The Indiana Women's basketball team looks to continue its magical tournament run against Arizona in the Elite Eight. The Wildcats were 19-5 on the season and 13-4 in Pac-12 play.
The Hoosiers defeated 1-seed NC State on Saturday in the Sweet 16, 73-70. This is the first Elite Eight appearance for Indiana.
IU previously defeated 13-seed VCU and 12-seed Belmont in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona is a 3-seed in the tournament that has defeated 2-seed Texas A&M, 11-seed BYU and 14-seed Stony Brook.
The Wildcats are led by coach Adia Barnes who has a talented roster featuring Second-Team All-American Aari McDonald. McDonald averages 19.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
McDonald will be an extremely tough cover for the Hoosiers as they battle for a spot in the Final Four. In their Sweet Sixteen game against Texas A&M, she dropped 31 points en route to a 74-59 victory. Other players Indiana will need to watch are Cate Reese and Trinity Baptiste, who average 11.4 and 8.5 points per game respectively.
One familiar face for the Hoosiers will be Bendu Yeaney. The former IU forward transferred to Arizona last season after trying to return to the lineup following a ruptured achilles in 2019. Yeaney averaged 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in 76 games (69 starts) for Indiana over her career.
Yeaney is averaging 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per game for the Wildcats this year.
The good news for the Indiana women is that if McDonald can be contained, they have a great shot at beating Arizona. The All-American is statistically leaps-and-bounds above her teammates, and shutting her down should lead to victory. However, that is much easier said than done.
Indiana is a better team than Arizona in terms of depth. Most recently, in their thrilling overtime win against NC State, five Hoosiers finished with double-figures in scoring. They will need to continue that style of team basketball to match McDonald's fierce scoring ability.
The winner of this contest will go on to play the winner of No. 1 UConn vs. No. 2 Baylor. Either of those teams would present a massive problem in the Final Four, but the Hoosiers must first focus on stopping Aari McDonald and Arizona.
Who: Arizona (19-5) vs Indiana (21-5)
When: Monday, Mar. 29 @ 9:00 pm ET
Where: San Antonio, TX
TV: ESPN
Radio: WHCC 105.1 FM AND SIRIUS XM CH. 81
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