Following its Horizon League Tournament Championship win last Tuesday, Green Bay secured the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Green Bay is returning to “The Big Dance” for the first time since the 2017-18 season, and learned its fate, earning an 11 seed in March Madness and facing another storied program, the No. 6 seed Tennessee Lady Volunteers in the Portland 4 Region.
Green Bay has an impressive resume coming into the tournament, winning games against Creighton in a true road game and Washington State in the Cancun Challenge. Creighton was ranked 22nd at the time, and earned a 7 seed in this year’s tournament. Washington State was ranked 23rd when the Phoenix soared past the Cougars down in Mexico and ended up in the WBIT. The Phoenix also matched up very well against Maryland in the Cancun Challenge, taking the Terrapins to the limit before Maryland squeaked out the victory.
All season long the Phoenix have had an incredibly balanced attack and stellar defense that can absolutely shutdown opposing teams at times. Green Bay boasts seven players scoring over six points per game, led by All-League First Team and Horizon League Tournament MVP, Natalie McNeal, who averages 13.7 points per game. Green Bay also takes care of the ball, with an NCAA best 1.75 assist to turnover ratio.
It will be a tall task for Green Bay to get past the Lady Volunteers, who are led by soon to be WNBA player, Rickea Jackson. Jackson only played in 23 games this season but, she still averaged 19.4 points per game and had a 22 point effort as Tennessee fell on a buzzer beater to NCAA Tournament #1 overall seed, South Carolina. Senior guard Jewel Spear also reaches double digits in scoring, adding in 13.3 points per game. The Lady Vols due have a weakness, and that is defensive effort. Tennessee can get caught not aggressively rebounding and playing sloppy on that end, which Green Bay has the talent and drive to exploit.
Green Bay and Tennessee will square off on Saturday, March 23rd in Raleigh, North Carolina with a TBD start time. The winner will face the winner of No. 3 North Carolina State and No. 14 Chattanooga on Monday, March 25th.
