Sunday’s Matchups to Watch in the NCAA Tournament

Women’s Tournament

No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Mississippi State

3:30 p.m., ESPN

Mississippi State built on its win in the First Four with an 81-66 defeat of No. 6 Creighton. The Bulldogs were facing a darling from last year’s tournament, but they took control early and became the lowest seed to win on Friday. Notre Dame also got out to a hot start, scoring the first 16 points in its 82-56 win over Southern Utah. The Fighting Irish will be without their star point guard, Olivia Miles, for the rest of the tournament because of a knee injury, but they had plenty of contributions in their first-round game: Lauren Ebo posted a double-double, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Maddy Westbeld scored 20 points.

No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 7 Arizona

5:30 p.m., ESPN

Maryland made light work of No. 15-seeded Holy Cross in the first round, jumping out to a 23-4 start en route to the 93-61 victory. The Terrapins got double-digit scoring efforts from five players, led by 18 off the bench from guard Brinae Alexander. Arizona Coach Adia Barnes has her team back in the round of 32 for the third consecutive year after a 75-62 win over West Virginia on Friday. Cate Reese scored 25, and Esmery Martinez had 13 points and 12 rebounds playing against her former team. The Wildcats lost last year in the second round, but the year before, they made it to the Final Four.

No. 2 Utah vs. No. 10 Princeton

7 p.m., ESPN2

Princeton needed nearly every second of Friday’s game to pull off the upset. The Tigers got a 3-pointer from Grace Stone with 4.7 seconds left to complete their comeback win over seventh-seeded North Carolina State, which was held without a point for the final 5:43 of the game. Princeton has made the round of 32 for the second consecutive year. It will face Utah, which hit the century mark Friday in a 103-77 win over Gardner-Webb. The Utes were led by forward Alissa Pili’s 33 points, a career high for the transfer from Southern California.

No. 3 L.S.U. vs. No. 6 Michigan

7:30 p.m., ESPN

L.S.U. took a while to jell offensively it its 73-50 win over 14th-seeded Hawaii on Friday, but even cold shooting couldn’t slow down the Tigers. Forward Angel Reese scored 34 points and added 15 rebounds for her 29th double-double on the season. Michigan was hot out of the gate in its first-round game against U.N.L.V., leading 17-9 after the first quarter. Forward Emily Kiser and guard Maddie Nolan each had 18 points for the Wolverines, while guard Leigha Brown poured in 17.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/sports/ncaabasketball/march-madness-sunday.html