AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s a late start for those in Central Time as the top-seeded Texas Longhorns clash with sharp-shooting Gonzaga in the NCAA women’s basketball Sweet 16 at 9 p.m. Friday in Portland, Oregon.
Gonzaga (32-3), the No. 4 seed in the region, is the country’s best 3-point shooting team with a 41% success rate and they’re No. 10 in scoring offense, a tenth of a point ahead of the Longhorns averaging 80.9 points per game.
The Bulldogs are also great at the foul line, shooting almost 80% for No. 6 in the country.
Texas (32-4) is one of the best field goal shooting teams in the country with its strong inside play. The Longhorns have made more than 49% of their shots throughout the season, No. 5 in the country. Defensively, Texas allows teams to shoot 38.5% from the field and the Bulldogs aren’t far behind at 39.7%.
The Longhorns are No. 6 in the country with a +10.3 rebounding margin, meaning they average more than 10 rebounds per game than their opponents. Texas grabs 40 rebounds per game, 14.4 on the offensive end, and they allow opponents 29.7 total rebounds per game. Gonzaga, again, doesn’t trail the Longhorns by much with a +9.3 margin.
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It’s a classic tournament game that pits a great major conference team against a great mid-major squad. The Bulldogs went undefeated in West Coast Conference play but tripped up in the conference tournament championship game with a 1-point loss to Portland.
Live updates
Pregame: No. 3 North Carolina State knocked off No. 2 Stanford 77-67 to advance to the Elite Eight. The winner of the Texas-Gonzaga game will take on the Wolfpack at 2 p.m. Sunday.
KXAN sports director Roger Wallace is in the Pacific Northwest for the game