Michigan
Holy Cross
U-M to Host Holy Cross to Tip Off NCAA Tournament Friday
3/17/2026 5:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 9-ranked University of Michigan women's basketball team (25-6) earned the No. 2 seed in the Fort Worth 3 region and will host No. 15 seed Holy Cross (23-9) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday (March 20) at Crisler Center. The game is set for 5:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.
Notes:
• U-M is making its eighth straight and 14th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament in this year's event. It is the first time Michigan has ever earned eight consecutive bids to the NCAA Tournament in program history. U-M is 12-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament over its previous 13 appearances. Michigan has two Sweet 16 appearances in school history (2021, 2022) and an Elite Eight appearance in 2022. U-M has advanced to the second round in 1990, 2001, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2025.
• J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Women's Basketball Coach Kim Barnes Arico is making her 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with the first four berths coming at St. John's. Barnes Arico is 15-12 in the NCAA Tournament, with her teams winning at least one game in 11 of her previous 12 appearances. She is 10-8 as the Michigan head coach in the NCAA Tournament. KBA is also the Michigan program leader with nine NCAA Tournament appearances as head coach, accounting for more than 60 percent of Michigan's berths.
• Michigan is the No. 2 seed in the Fort Worth 3 Region, marking the highest seed in program history. The Wolverines are hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the second time. U-M also hosted in 2022, knocking off American and Villanova en route to an appearance in the Elite Eight after a win over South Dakota.
• A record-setting 12 Big Ten Conference schools received berths into the 2026 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship for the second straight season. The 12 berths were the top mark among all Division I conferences, followed by the SEC (10), ACC (9) and Big 12 (8). Joining Michigan in the 2026 Tournament are UCLA, Iowa, Ohio State, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan State, Oregon, Illinois, Nebraska, USC and Washington. Five Big Ten schools are hosting the first and second rounds.
• Michigan went 14-1 at Crisler Center during the regular season, with its lone loss coming by three points to No. 2 UCLA on Feb. 8. Michigan is averaging 87.5 points per game on 49.8 percent shooting at home, yielding just 59.3 points per game on 39.0 percent shooting. Michigan is forcing 23.3 turnovers per game at home.
• Michigan set new program standards for regular-season wins (24) and Big Ten wins (15) this season. U-M is now up to 25 wins, tying the 2021-22 squad for second in program history. Michigan won a program-record 28 games en route to the 2017 WNIT title.
• Alyssa Crockett is making her fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in a Michigan uniform, becoming just the sixth Wolverine in program history to make the tournament four times in a career.
• Michigan has four players making their NCAA Tournament debut in Ashley Sofilkanich, McKenzie Mathurin, Ciara Byars and Jessica Fields.
• Olson has earned All-America honors this season from The Athletic (second team), ESPN (second team), USBWA (third team) and The Sporting News (third team). She is also a finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award, given to the top small forward in the country.
• Olson and Syla Swords earned consensus All-Big Ten first-team honors, Brooke Quarles Daniels was named to the Big Ten all-defensive team and Mila Holloway grabbed All-Big Ten honorable mention from the coaches. Crockett was Michigan's Sportsmanship Honoree. It is just the fourth time that Michigan has had two players earn first-team honors from the coaches in the same season.
• Holy Cross leads the all-time series, 2-1, after capturing a 62-58 win the last time these teams played on Feb. 8, 2001.
• Ashley Sofilkanich played against Holy Cross during her first two seasons while at Bucknell as Patriot League competitors. In addition, she played high school basketball at St. John Vianney with Meg Cahalan and Janie Bachmann of Holy Cross.
