No. 14 UT Arlington Mavericks to meet No. 3 Iowa State in NCAA Tournament
The word excitement was bantered about Sunday evening following the announcement that UT Arlington’s women’s basketball team would be facing Iowa State in an opening-round game Friday in the NCAA Tournament.
The 14-seed Mavericks (20-7) will take on three-seed Iowa State (26-6) at the Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa, on Friday. The game time will be announced Monday.
The victor of the Greensboro Region game will advance to Sunday’s game to face the winner of 6-seed Georgia and the winner of the first-four game between 11-seed Dayton or DePaul. The first-four game will be Wednesday in Ames.
“I’m so excited for our team and our athletic program,” UT Arlington head coach Shereka Wright said. “We had a great turnout to celebrate this opportunity.”
The Mavericks hosted a watch party at College Park Center and nearly 300 fans were there to cheer on the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champs as they watched NCAA Selection Show on the big screen at the Center.
The Mavericks defeated Troy, 76-61, in their final game at members of the conference. Next season, the program joins the Western Athletic Conference.
The Mavericks will be making their first tournament appearance since 2007 and third appearance overall. In 2007, UT Arlington lost as a 13-seed to 4-seed Texas A&M, 58-50, in Los Angeles. The Mavericks first trip to The Big Dance came in 2005 when, as a 13-seed, the 4-seed Texas Tech won, 69-49, in Dallas
Senior guard Claire Chastain said she and her teammates know they have a difficult task ahead of them facing the Cyclones on their home court. “It is going to be tough, but they put their shoes on just like we do,” she said. “We will be ready for tip-off.”
Senior guard Terryn Milton said the Mavericks have the talent to make some noise in the tournament. “We are ready to get out there and hopefully bust some people’s brackets up,” Milton said.
Wright said the Mavericks’ story this season has been an awesome one and it isn’t finished yet. “Coach [Bill] Fennelly has done an amazing with his program and culture at Iowa State,” she said. “They support women’s basketball [in Ames] and they will have a great turnout. I was hoping we might travel outside of Texas. I thought it would be a great experience.”
Despite the challenge, Arlington’s second-year head coach tried to demystify the process, saying that path to advancing “just depends if you hit shots and get stops.” In fact, Wright said any team can win at any given moment. “It’s the same thing we have talked about this season,” she said. “We have to live in the moment and know we don’t get this moment back.”