Utah Utes ahead Alissa Pili (35) celebrates a basket and a foul in opposition to her within the second spherical of the NCAA Event in Salt Lake Metropolis on Sunday, March 19, 2023. Pili has averaged 30.5 factors, 9.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steals per recreation for the Utes throughout their NCAA Event run heading into the Candy 16. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
LSU ahead Angel Reese (10) flexes after LSU defeated Michigan in a second-round school basketball recreation within the ladies’s NCAA Event in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday, March 19, 2023. Matthew Hinton, Related Press
No. 2 seed Utah (27-4) vs. No. 3 seed LSU (30-2)
NCAA ladies’s basketball match Candy 16
Friday, 3 p.m. MDT
Bon Secours Wellness Area (Greenville, South Carolina)
TV: ESPN
Radio: 700 AM
How the Utes received right here: Utah, the Pac-12 regular-season co-champions, beat Gardner-Webb 103-77 within the NCAA Event’s first spherical, then defeated Princeton 63-56 within the second spherical to advance.
How the Tigers received right here: LSU, which earned an at-large NCAA bid as SEC runners-up, beat Hawaii 73-50 within the NCAA Event’s first spherical, then beat Michigan 66-42 within the second spherical to advance.
Key gamers: Pac-12 Participant of the 12 months Alissa Pili, like she’s been all yr, has been the catalyst to the Utes’ assault in the course of the NCAA Event. Her 61 factors within the opening two rounds is probably the most at school historical past in a two-game stretch in NCAA Event play. She has additionally averaged 9.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steals per recreation in the course of the NCAAs.
LSU ahead Angel Reese (10) flexes after LSU defeated Michigan in a second-round school basketball recreation within the ladies’s NCAA Event in Baton Rouge, La., Sunday, March 19, 2023.
Matthew Hinton, Related Press
Angel Reese has been the do-everything participant powering LSU, and he or she’s upped her recreation within the NCAA Event. By the primary two rounds, she is averaging 29.5 factors, 19.5 rebounds, 4.5 blocks, 3.0 assists and three.0 steals per recreation. Within the win over Michigan, she put up 25 factors, 24 rebounds and 6 blocks within the blowout win.
What’s at stake: The winner of Friday’s recreation will face the winner of No. 4 seed Villanova and No. 9 seed Miami within the NCAA Event Elite Eight on Sunday.
Historic significance: That is the third time Utah has superior to the NCAA Event’s regional semifinals in program historical past.
The Utes have superior to the regional finals, or Elite Eight, as soon as earlier than, in 2006. That yr, Utah beat Center Tennessee within the first spherical, Arizona State within the second spherical and Boston School within the Candy 16 earlier than falling to Maryland in extra time within the Elite Eight.