For the second straight season under Kim Mulkey, LSU will serve as a host site for the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
A first-round game against No. 14-seeded Hawai’i (18-14) will be played in Baton Rouge on Friday, March 17, at approximately 4:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
Also in the PMAC on Friday will be a matchup between No. 6-seeded Michigan (22-9) and No. 11-seeded UNLV (31-2) starting at 2 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
No. 14 Hawaii at No. 3 LSU
WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Pete Maravich Assembly Center
TV: ESPN2
RECORDS: Hawaii 18-14, Big West tournament champion; LSU 28-2, second place, Southeastern Conference.
BRIEFLY ON HAWAII: This is the second straight NCAA tournament appearance for Hawaii, which made it last year as a No. 15 seed and bowed out to Baylor in the first round. This year did not start well. The Rainbow Wahine dropped six of their first seven games but finished third in the Big West behind UC Irvine and Long Beach State. Hawaii then made a spirited run through the conference tournament, coming back from a 15-point third-quarter deficit to beat UC Santa Barbara 61-59 in the championship game Saturday. Their strongest wins of the season came against Long Beach, which ranked 97th in the RPI.
BRIEFLY ON LSU: Kim Mulkey said her job was to hang more banners in the PMAC. She has a real chance to hang a Final Four banner already. The Tigers were a projected No. 2 seed during their run through the SEC schedule, but a surprising loss to Tennessee in the conference tournament, as well as a middling strength of schedule (82nd in the nation), designed partly because LSU started this season with so many new pieces. Reese is the superstar, but senior Alexis Morris and freshman Flau’jae Johnson have played essential roles.
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