Texas vs. Alabama: NCAA Women’s Tournament Preview and Prediction
Here is everything you need to know about Texas and Alabama in our Longhorns vs. Crimson Tide NCAA Women’s Tournament second-round preview.
No. 1 Texas (31-4) vs. No. 8 Alabama (24-9)
Time, TV: 5 p.m., Sunday, ESPN
Location: Moody Center, Austin, Texas
All-time series: First meeting.
NCAA Tournament results: Texas: def. Drexel, 82-42 (first round); Alabama: def. Florida State, 82-74 (first round).
Winner: Advances to the Sweet 16 next week in Portland, Ore.
Projected starting lineups
Texas: F Madison Booker, F Taylor Jones, F Aaliyah Moore, G Shay Holle, G Shaylee Gonzales.
Alabama: G Loyal McQueen, G Aaliyah Nye, G Sarah Ashlee Barker, G Karly Weathers, F Essence Cody.
Players to watch
Texas
G Shaylee Gonzalez
Texas put up some big numbers in their 40-point win over Drexel in the first round. Gonzales put up a couple of numbers that will make her head coach, Vic Schaefer, happy. First, Gonzales Led the Longhorns with 21 points and dropped in five 3-pointers. Texas needs production from distance if it expects to make a deep run. Second, Gonzales had three steals, so she’s playing the kind of defense Texas wants while putting up those points. She is averaging just under 10 points per game, but in her sixth college season she’s playing for the opportunity to win a national title.
Alabama
G Aaliyah Nye
If you’re watching for a player from deep, keep an eye on the fourth-year college player, who put together her second straight season shooting better than 40% from the 3-point line. Nye also happens to be one of Alabama’s top scores, as she averages 14 points per game. In Alabama’s first-round win over Florida State, Nye scored 18 points and made two 3-pointers. She also grabbed six rebounds and had two assists. She’s a player that can stretch out the Texas defense and make the Longhorns pay for sagging on players like forward Essence Cody.
Key storylines
Texas
Is this the year coach Vic Schaefer, the Austin native, finally gets the Longhorns to the Final Four? He’s gotten close. In each of his first two seasons he got Texas to the Elite Eight. Getting the Longhorns to the Final Four this season, without Rori Harmon, one of the game’s best all-around players, would constitute a tremendous coaching job. Getting there would be a big deal for the program, too. The program under Jody Conradt was one of the standard-bearers in women’s basketball and it still is — but Texas hasn’t been to a Final Four since 2003. Schaefer, who led Mississippi State there twice, measures success the same way.
Alabama
Coach Kristy Curry has Alabama fans thinking of the glory days under Rick Moody, when they made eight straight NCAA tournament appearances in the 1990s. Curry has the Crimson Tide in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years and has won at least 20 games for the third straight season. What’s different this year is that Alabama has a big presence inside in Essence Cody, a freshman who’s been playing like she’s been in college basketball for two or three years. A rigorous SEC schedule has the Crimson Tide prepared to play in a hostile environment like the Moody Center in Austin.
Prediction
Texas 77, Alabama 71. The Longhorns have the players to deal with Cody inside and they’ve been on a roll ever since they won the Big 12 Tournament. The Longhorns will advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
