When Spokane Region 1 No. 2 seed North Carolina State and No. 3 seed LSU last met, the locale was much different — but that is not the only deviation in their rematch on Friday in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
LSU (30-5) won the championship game of the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, on Nov. 27, 82-65. NC State gets another shot at the Tigers, this time in eastern Washington and with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line.
“At the beginning of the season we were still trying to get a feel of each other,” said Wolfpack guard Saniya Rivers, who posted a 17-point, 11-assist double-double in NC State’s 2nd Round win over Michigan State. “We had a lot of returners, but I feel like with the freshmen coming in and people playing out of position, we just weren’t very comfortable and confident. So as the season went along, we started putting pieces together.”
NC State (28-6) has put the pieces together since that Thanksgiving week to the tune of its sixth Sweet 16 in its last seven postseasons. The Wolfpack are also aiming for a return trip to the Final Four after advancing there last year.
LSU, meanwhile, aims to win another national championship after claiming the title in 2023.
Two of the Tigers’ leaders in their win over NC State — Mikaylah Williams with 24 points and Aneesah Morrow with 20 points and 15 rebounds — were not with the program on the national championship run. They are central to the 2025 pursuit, however, with Williams averaging 17.4 points per game and Morrow producing 18.5 points and a nation-leading 13.5 rebounds per game.
“We’re a (player)-coached team,” Morrow said of LSU’s identity cultivated over the course of this season. “Flau’jae (Johnson) can get on me, Mikaylah can get on me, and I can get on them, and no nobody take it personal. We hold each other accountable, and we accept the challenges that we have for one another, and we set a standard, and we don’t lower that for each other.”
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 5 Ole Miss
Spokane Region 1 top seed UCLA got a 30-point, 14-rebound, four-assist effort from Lauren Betts in its 2nd Round win over Richmond, but Sweet 16 opponent and No. 5 seed Ole Miss is preparing for more than just the Bruins center in Friday’s matchup.
“The conversation has to be about UCLA being a really good team,” said Rebels coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. “Unless (Betts is) getting ready to put 70 on us, I don’t know that that’s their game plan.”
Betts is averaging 19.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game to lead UCLA (32-2), but the Bruins have won with balance much of the season. Six scorers behind Betts average between 7.5 and Kiki Rice’s 13.1 points per game, with Rice having gone for 23 in the 84-67 defeat of Richmond in the last round.
Ole Miss (22-10) is similarly structured, with four double-figure point-per-game scorers for the season. Madison Scott’s 12.1 points per game lead the Rebels, as she has come alive at the right time.
Scott finished the regular season with 10 points combined over three games, but went for 15 and 14 in NCAA Tournament wins over Ball State and Baylor.
Ole Miss has also thrived with defense, holding opponents to 58.6 points per game on the season.
“They just find their identity in being a really tough-minded defensive team, and that they’re going to do it that defensive gritty way,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “And I don’t think that’s easy to do in this day and age.”
–Field Level Media
