Michigan Earns At-Large NCAA Berth, Will Face Kansas State in Louisville
3/18/2019 5:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
• NCAA Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- For the second straight season, the University of Michigan women's basketball team earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament on Monday (March 18). The Wolverines are the No. 8 seed in the Albany Region and will face No. 9 seed Kansas State (21-11) in the first round Friday (March 22) at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The game will tip at approximately 2 p.m. on ESPN2.
Host Louisville is the region's No. 1 seed and will play No. 16 seed Robert Morris in the site's first game Friday at noon. The two first-round winners will square off Sunday (March 20, time TBD) for a trip to Albany, New York, where regional games are scheduled for Friday and Sunday, March 29 and 31, at Times Union Center. The Women's Final Four will held April 5 and 7 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Michigan will be making the eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. U-M has a 4-7 overall mark in the tourney, having won its first-round games in 1990, 2001, 2013 and 2018.
U-M has a 21-11 record and went 11-7 in the Big Ten Conference to finish fourth. Michigan is led by a trio of double-figure scorers in freshman Naz Hillmon (13.3 ppg), senior Hallie Thome (12.1 ppg) and senior Nicole Munger (10.2 ppg).
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico will be making her seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with the first four coming at St. John's (2006, '10, '11, '12). She is 7-6 all-time in the tournament and reached the Sweet 16 in 2012. KBA led Michigan to the second round in 2013 and 2018, tying its best tournament performance.
