March 27, 2022 

Daily Briefing — March 27, 2022: SHAM-ROCKED — Notre Dame collapses against N.C. State

A three-hire day for three-name coaches

Happy Sunday! Welcome to The Next’s Daily Briefing, featuring the W Roundup, daily Watch List, and Yesterday’s Recap. Day 132 of college basketball is here, following Notre Dame suffering a collapse of epic proportions at the hands of conference rival N.C. State. The Irish had been one of the more volatile-but-objectively-good teams this year, and when they had everything clicking, they were nigh impossible to beat. And that’s exactly what they had working yesterday until Dara Mabrey turned her back to the defense (you’ll see what I mean in a couple of sections).

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Elsewhere, Indiana squandered an early lead on UConn and then some. We can argue about the Huskies’ home-field advantage in a day or two. Oh, and two high-level programs have new head coaches! As does Syracuse.

Watch List, Sunday, March 27

(All times in Eastern, all rankings reflect tournament seeding)

Greensboro regional final

#1 South Carolina v. #10 Creighton, 7 p.m., ESPN

Spokane regional final

#1 Stanford v. #2 Texas, 9 p.m., ESPN

NCAA Roundup

Coaching carousel

  • Dayton: Hired Dayton native and former Power-Five assistant Tamika Williams-Jeter away from… DIII Wittenberg. You may know Wittenberg because their athletic director is formerly WNBA-head coach Brian Agler; I know Wittenberg because one of my best friends attended there. I am open to other fun facts about Wittenberg if they exist — please leave a comment here or tweet at me.
  • Georgia: Hired Katie Abrahamson-Henderson away from UCF to be its next head coach.
  • Syracuse: Hired Felisha Legette-Jack away from Buffalo to be its next head coach, as we’d all anticipated for the past nine months.

Saturday, March 26 recap

(All rankings below reflect tournament seeding)

Bridgeport

#1 N.C. State beat #5 Notre Dame, 66-63. The game was neck-and-neck until the Irish went on a 12-3 in the mid-second quarter; Notre Dame led by 10 in the late second quarter, by eight in the mid-fourth quarter, and still led by multiple possessions with under two minutes to go, before uhhh…

Off-ball guard Kai Crutchfield led N.C. State with 13 second-half points on 5-for-9 shooting (2-4 3pt.) and three steals and played all 40; center Elissa Cunane had a double-double with 16 points (5-10 FG, 6-7 FT) and 10 rebounds (three offensive). Notre Dame freshman(!) point guard Olivia Miles scored a game-high 21 points on 9-for-19 from the field and 3-for-10 from three, six rebounds, and six assists against four turnovers; big wing Maddy Westbeld had 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting (1-4 3pt.), eight rebounds, and three steals against five turnovers.

#2 UConn beat #3 Indiana, 75-58. The Hoosiers led 18-13 in the late first quarter and lost the third quarter 22-13, including a 16-0 Husky run. Indiana had only two offensive rebounds. Combo guard Christyn Williams led the Huskies with 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting (0-3 3pt.), six rebounds (three rebounds), and three assists without a turnover; center Olivia Nelson-Ododa had a double-double with 10 points on 5-for-9 FG and 14 rebounds (five offensive), plus three assists and two steals. Combo guard Ali Patberg led the Hoosiers with 16 points on 7-for-9 from the field (2-3 3pt.) against three turnovers.

Wichita

#3 Michigan beat #10 South Dakota, 52-49. The Wolverines took their first lead in the mid-second quarter before the Coyotes retook the lead two minutes later and held it through the mid-third quarter — they never led after that. The teams combined to shoot 37.5% from the field. Big Naz Hillmon led Michigan with 17 points on 6-for-12 FG and 10 rebounds (six offensive) for a double-double, plus three assists against four turnovers; freshman(!) wing Laila Phelia scored 14 points in 23 minutes on 5-for-7 shooting (2-3 3pt.) with three turnovers.

South Dakota was led by center Hannah Sjerven’s 17 points on 7-for-11 from the field (0-1 3pt.) and eight rebounds despite fouling out in 27 minutes.

Daily Briefing
The Lady Vols vs. Louisville in the Sweet 16 match. Photo Credit: Lady Vols Twitter Account

#1 Louisville beat #4 Tennessee, 76-64. The Cardinals led from 6:26 in the first quarter and built a 15-point lead after 13 minutes. The Vols won the rebounding battle by 18, including grabbing 23 offensive boards; Louisville notched 11 steals and only committed seven turnovers.

Louisville point guard Hailey Van Lith led with 23 points on 7-for-21 from the field (0-5 3pt.) and 9-for-10 from the line, three rebounds, and six assists against two turnovers; big wing Emily Engstler had a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double on 7-for-12 shooting (3-3 3pt., 3-7 FT) with six offensive boards and three blocks. Wing Rae Burrell led Tennessee with 22 points on 9-for-19 from the field and 2-for-8 from three and six rebounds against two turnovers.

Written by Em Adler

Em Adler (she/they) covers the WNBA at large and college basketball for The Next, with a focus on player development and the game behind the game.

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