NCAA Tournament Preview: Ole Miss takes on 9-seed Gonzaga

Mar 16, 2023 - 4:16 PM

The Ole Miss women’s basketball team is going dancing for the second straight year. This is a seriously awesome accomplishment for Coach Yo and her program.

Unfortunately, landing in that 8-9 game sucks just a little bit of the excitement out of it. If you manage to surround a tough first round game, you are likely to be greeted by 1-seed Stanford.

The Rebs are set to faceoff with the Gonzaga Bulldogs and while they do not carry the same prestige in their program as their male counterparts, this game will be a tough one.

Gonzaga can flat out score the basketball. The ‘Zags score 72.4 points per contest on 42% shooting from behind the arc and are led by two 16 point per game scorers in Yvonne Ejim and Kaylynne Truong. Guard Brynna Maxwell is just behind at 13.8 points per contest.

Truong has made 93 three pointers this year on 42% shooting while Maxwell has knocked down 87 on 49% shooting. These two guards drive this offense and the Rebel defense will have to key on not giving up open perimeter looks. Ole Miss has held their opponents to 26% shooting from deep this season. That will need that to continue on Friday night.

Rebounding will be crucial on the defensive end as Yvonne Ejim lives on the offensive glass. She averages 8.4 total rebounds per contest with half of them being on the offensive end.

This game will come down to how Ole Miss generates offense. They score 17 points per game off turnovers but Gonzaga is right behind them scoring 16 on their own. Fortunately the Rebels keep their turnover number to about three per quarter. If Gonzaga is able to force Ole Miss to half court offense, I am not sure the Rebs have the firepower to keep up with the Zags.

How to Watch

When: Friday 9:00 PM

Where: Stanford, California

Streaming: ESPNU and the ESPN App