Minnesota vs Notre Dame

NCAA First Round

Minnesota Golden Gophers (19-11)
vs.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (22-8)
LOCATION Joyce Center / South Bend , Ind.
DATE / TIME: Sunday, March 22 / approx. 1:30 p.m. CT
TELEVISION: ESPN
Eric Collins (Play-by-play), Stephanie White (Color Analyst)
RADIO / WEBCAST: KBEM 88.5 FM or WCCO 830 AM / Gopher Radio Network / gophersports.com
Corbu Stathes (Play-by-play), Lynnette Sjoquist (Color Analyst)
Minnesota Faces Notre Dame in NCAA First Round
The Minnesota Golden Gophers travel to South Bend , Ind. , on Sunday, March 22 to face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in the First Round of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Tip-off is scheduled for 30 minutes following the First Round game between Texas A&M and Evansville (12 p.m. ET), or approximately 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT). The Second Round game is set for Tuesday, March 24 at 7 p.m. ET.
Minnesota Earns the No. 10 Seed
The Golden Gophers were tabbed as the No. 10 seed in the Trenton Region, while Notre Dame is the No. 7 seed. The Trenton Region contains the top-seed overall - Connecticut - as the No. 1 seed. Other No. 1 seeds are Maryland in the Raleigh Region, Oklahoma in the Oklahoma City Region and Duke in the Berkeley Region.
All 63 NCAA Tournament Games Televised
Every game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament will once again be televised by the ESPN family of networks. The Minnesota/Notre Dame game will be aired on ESPN with Eric Collins and former Purdue All-American Stephanie White calling the action.
Deja Vu Might Be Just What the Doctor Ordered
Sunday’s game with Notre Dame will bring back some nice memories for Golden Gopher fans. Minnesota made its very first NCAA Tournament appearance, ironically as a No. 10 seed, in 1994 and upset No. 7 seed Notre Dame on its home court. Notre Dame will be the second team ( Texas ) that Minnesota has met more than once in NCAA Tournament play.
Gophers Making Eighth NCAA Appearance
Minnesota will be making its eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and the Golden Gophers’ sixth in seven years under head coach Pam Borton. Minnesota posted a streak of five consecutive Tournament appearances (2002-06) and returned to the field in 2008. The Gophers’ first NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1994. Overall, Minnesota is 10-7 in NCAA Tournament play.
Great Time to be a Golden Gopher
The Golden Gopher women’s basketball team isn’t the only Minnesota team in NCAA Championship competition this week. The Gopher men’s basketball team earned the No. 10 seed in the South Region and travels to Greensboro , N.C. to face No. 7 Texas on Thursday. Then the Golden Gopher women’s hockey team, the No. 2 seed, travels to Boston to compete in the 2009 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four this weekend. The Gophers face No. 3 Mercyhurst on Friday in a national semifinal. Then just to keep the folks at home hopping, Minnesota is also hosting one of the men’s basketball NCAA First/Second Round sites at the Metrodome in Minneapolis .
Big Ten Conference Sends Five to NCAAs
The Big Ten Conference will be represented by five teams in the field of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Three of the five teams - Ohio State , Michigan State and Iowa - will play host to First/Second Round sites. Big Ten champion Ohio State earned a No. 3 seed and plays Sacred Heart. Purdue is a No. 6 seed and will play Charlotte in Chattanooga , Tenn. Iowa collected a No. 8 seed and hosts Georgia Tech. Finally, Michigan State earned a No. 9 seed and will face Middle Tennessee State .
Minnesota History in the NCAA Tournament
Minnesota is making its eighth trip to the Big Dance and its seventh in an eight-year span.
Minnesota was the No. 9 seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament field and was defeated by No. 8 Texas (72-55) in a First Round contest played in Bridgeport , Ct.
The Gophers suffered their first First Round defeat in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Minnesota , the No. 8 seed was upset by No. 9 Washington, 73-69, in a game played at Vanderbilt in Nashville , Tenn.
In 2005, Minnesota earned a school-best No. 3 seed and once again played host to the NCAA First and Second Rounds in Williams Arena. The Gophers crushed No. 14 seed St. Francis ( Pa. ), 64-33, allowing the second-lowest scoring total in NCAA Tournament history. Minnesota then downed No. 6 seed Virginia , 73-58, to earn the Gophers’ third consecutive trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. Minnesota traveled to Tempe , Ariz. , where the Gophers’ season was ended by a 64-57 loss to eventual national champion Baylor.
Minnesota advanced to its first Final Four in 2004. The Gophers, assigned the No. 7 seed in the Mideast Region defeated No. 10-seed UCLA and No. 2-seed Kansas State in Minneapolis , then No. 3-seed Boston College and No. 1-seed and top-ranked Duke in Norfolk , Va. , to earn a spot in the Final Four in New Orleans . The Gophers’ dream season was ended by eventual national champion Connecticut .
In 2002-03, Minnesota entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed in the West Region. The Golden Gophers advanced to their first Sweet 16 after wins over Tulane and Stanford but lost to No. 2 seed Texas in the West Regional semifinal.
In Minnesota ’s first two trips to the NCAAs in 1994 and 2002, the Gophers advanced to the second round. In 1994, the Golden Gophers entered the tournament with the No. 10 seed in the East Region. Minnesota upset No. 7-seed Notre Dame in South Bend , Ind. , but lost to No. 2-seed Vanderbilt in Nashville in the second round. Former Gopher great Carol Ann Shudlick, the 1994 Big Ten Player of the Year, was the force behind Minnesota ’s first team to capture an NCAA invitation. In 2002, Minnesota earned the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region. The Gophers defeated UNLV in the first round, then lost to host North Carolina in the second round.
Tougher Road as a Higher Seed
Minnesota won First Round games in its first five NCAA Tournament appearances, but it hasn’t been an easy road for the Golden Gophers in their last two trips to the NCAAs. The Gophers look to break a two-game streak of being ousted in the opening round. The Gophers were awarded the No. 8 seed in 2006 and lost to Washington and were the No. 9 seed in 2008 and were defeated by Texas .
A Taste of Sweet Victory
Though the Minnesota program has a wining record (10-7) in NCAA action, there isn’t a single Gopher on the 2008-09 roster who has enjoyed the sweet taste of an NCAA Tournament victory.
Schedule Readies Gophers For Postseason Play
Minnesota played a solid schedule and played 12 games against teams included in the 2009 NCAA Tournament field. Minnesota was 4-4 against the four Big Ten teams ( Ohio State , Purdue , Michigan State, Iowa ) that are headed for NCAA play. In non-conference play, the Gophers captured a win over Drexel and lost games to Stanford , South Dakota State and Iowa State .
Back to Sites With Four Teams
The 2009 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament returns to a format with 16 sites hosting First and Second Rounds of action. The Big Ten Conference has three schools hosting sites - Iowa , Michigan State and Ohio State . Minnesota will host a First/Second Round site in 2010 in Williams Arena.
Trio of Gophers Selected to Big Ten Honor Squads
Golden Gophers Emily Fox and Ashley Ellis-Milan were selected to Big Ten Conference honor squads, released by Big Ten officials. Fox was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team by votes of both the league coaches and media. Ellis-Milan earned a spot on the coaches’ and media’s All-Big Ten Third Team. Minnesota rookie Kiara Buford was voted the Big Ten’s All-Freshmen Team.
Big Ten champion Ohio State collected four top awards, led by sophomore center Jantel Lavender earning her second Player of the Year award. Buckeye head coach Jim Foster was named the Coach of the Year, while Ohio State also earned the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in Shavelle Little and Freshman of the Year in Samantha Prahalis.
Lavender was joined on the All-Big Ten First Team by Illinois ’ Jenna Smith, Iowa ’s Kristi Smith, Penn State ’s Tyra Grant and Purdue’s Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton.
Fox is a three-time All-Big Ten honoree, previously earning second-team accord in 2007 and first-team acclaim a year ago. The senior guard leads the Gophers in scoring, averaging 12.8 points a game. Fox shares the team lead in steals with 64 and is second in assists in 117. During the season, Fox worked her way up to No. 8 on the Minnesota all-time scoring list and currently has 1,424 career points.
Ellis-Milan picks up her first postseason accolade voted upon by the Big Ten coaches. Following her sophomore season in 2008, Ellis-Milan was selected to the All-Big Ten Third Team by the Big Ten media. A junior center, Ellis-Milan tallied a team-best 12.8 points per game average in Conference play. She pulls down an average of 7.3 rebounds a game, the Gophers’ top rebounder for the last three seasons.
Gopher guard Buford is just the third Minnesota freshman to earn Conference rookie accolades, following Janel McCarville who was named the 2002 Freshman of the Year (the All-Freshman Team had not been established at the time) and Brittany McCoy , who collected All-Freshman Team accord in 2007. Buford is averaging 7.1 points a game in 2008-09.
Golden Gopher senior Kay Sylva was named as Minnesota ’s recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Awardwinners are student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, they must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
Looking for That Big 20th Victory
A win in the NCAA First Round would give Minnesota its 20th victory of the season. The Gophers have collected 20 wins four times (2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2007-08) in the Minnesota coaching tenure of Pam Borton.
Nice to See Some New Faces
One of the best things about playing in the NCAA Tournament is the chance to face some new opposition. Minnesota was averaging 72.2 points a game before embarking its defensively intense Big Ten schedule. In Big Ten play, Minnesota was one of six Conference teams to average less than 60 points per Big Ten game.
Backcourt Play Huge at NCAA Time
Minnesota’s starting backcourt of Emily Fox and Brittany McCoy have started every game for the last three seasons. Fox, a senior, is a three-time All-Big Ten pick and is eighth in school history with 1,424 points. McCoy, a junior, has led the Gophers in assists in each year of her career. Together, Fox and McCoy have tallied triple-digit assists totals for three straight seasons.
Fox Now No. 8, Surpasses 1,400 Career Points
Emily Fox has made quite a move up the all-time scorers’ list in the past month. Fox now has 1,424 points and ranks No. 8 on the Minnesota scoring list. Fox joined the top 10 of the Gophers’ all-time leading scorers’ list in the game on Feb. 15 at Michigan , her 117th career game in a Gopher uniform. In her next game (Feb. 19 versus Ohio State ), Fox scored 18 and climbed into the No. 9 spot. Another game and another step up the charts. She scored 16 versus Northwestern to take over the No. 8 spot previously held by Deb Hunter (1979-83) with 1,363 points. The No. 7 spot is held by Carol Peterka (1982-86) with 1,441 points.
Fox also recently became the eighth player in Minnesota history to score 100 three-point field goals, hitting the trey to get her triple digits in the Iowa (2-8) game. She currently has 110 career three-pointers.
The Countdown to 1,000 - 28 Points Away
Gopher junior Ashley Ellis-Milan has played the best basketball of her collegiate career this season and is nearing the 1,000 career points milestone. She is averaging 10.2 points per game over her career and currently has scored 972 points as a Golden Gopher. Ellis-Milan would be the 19th player in school history to join the career 1,000-point club.
Ellis-Milan Now Top 10 in Career Rebounding
Ashley Ellis-Milan has led the Golden Gophers in rebounding in each of her first three seasons donning the Maroon and Gold. By averaging 7.2 boards in each of her 95 career games, Ellis-Milan has now joined the top-10 list of all-time career rebounders in Minnesota history with 682 caroms. She stands at the No. 10 spot and will chase down Marty Dahlen (1979-82) in No. 9 with 703 rebounds next.
McCoy Notches Third Season With 100+ Assists
Brittany McCoy added the 2008-09 as her third consecutive season with 100 or more assists and currently has 124 on the season. McCoy’s average of 4.1 dishes a game, which ranks third in the Big Ten. The Gopher junior was already the only player in school history to dish out 100 or more assists as both a freshman and sophomore and now she adds her junior season to the list.
When McCoy dishes out five or more assists in a game this season, the Gophers are 9-2.
Fox Also Hits Century Assists Mark
Emily Fox has 117 assists on the season to join Brittany McCoy with 100 or more assists this season. The duo both collected their 100th assist of the 2008-09 season in the win at Michigan (2/15). Fox and McCoy share the honor of being one of just two sets of Minnesota teammates (Janel McCarville/April Calhoun, 2004-05) to tally triple assist totals in the same season. The Fox and McCoy tandem now accomplished the last three seasons.
Defense, Defense and More Defense
The Big Ten is known as a physical league. The statistics are revealing just how important team defense was this season. Amazingly over half the teams - six ( Illinois , Michigan , Michigan State , Minnesota , Northwestern and Wisconsin ) - are averaging less than 60 points a game this season in Conference play.
Gophers Are Winning the Close Ones
Good teams find a way to make plays in the closing minutes to win games. The Gophers were 7-0 in Big Ten games decided by six or less points. Overall, Minnesota was 8-1 in games this season decided by single digits.
Ohm Impact Makes It a Different Ballgame
When shots from the perimeter are finding the bottom of the net, the Gophers are a different team. One of Minnesota ’s main weapons from long range is Katie Ohm and when Ohm is hitting the three-pointer it opens up even more options in the Gopher offense. Ohm has netted three or more three-pointers in 12 games this season. When Ohm hits three or more triples, the Gophers are 10-2. When she hits four or more, Minnesota is 4-0.
Harper Continues to be a Force Off the Bench
Zoe Harper has contributed solid games off the bench in the post for the Gophers. In the win at Michigan State , Harper pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and helped once again neutralize Michigan  State standout Alyssa DeHaan, who finished with just seven points and two rebounds. Against Ohio State (2/19), she helped limit Jantel Lavender to just three rebounds and 14 points, while adding six points and five rebounds of her own. Harper was one of the few bright spots in the game at Northwestern (2/23) tallying eight points, eight rebounds (including six offensive boards) and a career-high four blocked shots.
Ellis-Milan Most Consistent Gopher in Big Ten Games
Ashley Ellis-Milan was the Golden Gophers’ most consistent performer in Big Ten action this season. She led the team averaging 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per Conference game. Ellis-Milan has recorded double-doubles in three Big Ten games this season. Overall, Ellis-Milan has posted 19 double-doubles in her Golden Gopher career.
Voigt, Buford Need to Play Beyond Their Freshman Status
Minnesota has two freshmen in Jackie Voigt and Kiara Buford that the Gophers rely on to play not as freshmen, but as at least sophomores. Voigt is one of two freshmen ( Ohio State ’s Samantha Prahalis the other) who have started every game this season. Voigt was the Big Ten’s second-leading rookie rebounder pulling down 5.6 rebounds a game. She also contributes 5.8 points a game in an average of 27.9 minutes per contest.
Buford has emerged as an important player off the bench for the Gophers. Buford was among the leading freshman scorers in Big Ten Conference play, as well as one the top non-starting scorers, contributing 7.4 points a game. Overall, Buford is playing an average of 21.9 minutes a game, scoring 7.1 points an outing.
Ohm Closing In On Single-Season Record
Katie Ohm has been a big weapon from behind the arc this season. Her 68 three-point field goals is nearing Minnesota ’s single-season record of 73 (Lindsay Lieser, 2001-02; and Shannon Schonrock, 2004-05).
Experience Paying Dividends...
Two years ago, Minnesota put the second youngest squad in the nation on the court. In 2008-09, the Gophers have a trio of three-year starters in Emily Fox, Brittany McCoy and Ashley Ellis-Milan. McCoy has started every one of her 95 career games at Minnesota . To date, the Gophers’ starting lineup, which does include a true freshman in Jackie Voigt, boasts 356 games of starting experience.
...Especially in the Backcourt
Minnesota’s starting backcourt of Brittany McCoy and Emily Fox are ranked first and second in the Big Ten statistics in a very important, but under-appreciated stat of assist-to-turnover ratio. McCoy has 124 assists to 79 turnovers for a Big Ten-best 1.57 assist/turnover ratio. Fox has 117 assists to 80 turnovers for a 1.46 assist/turnover ratio. The duo enjoyed their best collective outing versus Boston College , combining for 13 assists without a single turnover.
Scouting Notre Dame
No. 23/20 Notre Dame brings a 22-8 record into the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Irish finished fourth in the Big East with a 10-6 mark and gave No. 1 Connecticut its toughest battle losing to the Huskies by 10 points (76-66) in late February. Notre Dame is making its 16th NCAA Tournament appearance and its 14th consecutively.
Notre Dame is led by a pair of All-Big East performers in Lindsay Schrader and Ashley Barlow. Schrader, a 6-0 senior, tops the Irish in scoring (12.8 ppg.) and rebounding (7.5 rpg.) from her guard position. Barlow, a 5-9 junior, adds 12.4 points a game.
Minnesota and Notre Dame played four common opponents this season ( Boston College , Michigan , Michigan State , Purdue). The Irish went 3-1 with a loss to Michigan , while the Gophers were 5-2 with losses to Purdue.
The Minnesota / Notre Dame Series
Minnesota leads the series versus Notre Dame by a 1-0 margin. The 1994 NCAA Tournament game, won by Minnesota 81-76, is the only meeting.