After missing last year, UM women pumped for ACC tournament opener vs. Stanford
A year ago this week, the University of Miami women’s basketball team was feeling low and left out after failing to qualify for the ACC tournament.
The mood is much better this week as the 12th seeded Hurricanes get set to play No. 13 seed Stanford at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the tournament opening game at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia, just outside the Atlanta metro area. The game will air on the ACC Network.
“Our team is really thrilled to be here because a year ago we missed the tournament by one game, and that was really disheartening,” said UM second-year coach Tricia Cullop. “We were out in California and had to get a win against Stanford or Cal to get [into the ACC Tournament] and lost both. That was a long plane ride home.”
This week, there was no plane ride home from the season finale against Georgia Tech, which Miami lost 79-49. The Hurricanes had a short commute to the ACC tournament site.
“I think we’re the first people here; we played Georgia Tech and we’re still in Georgia,” Cullop said. “We’re excited to be in the tournament this year, but we’re not just happy to be here. We’re hoping to be here for a while.”
The Hurricanes closed the regular season with a 16–13 overall record and an 8–10 mark in ACC play. Stanford finished the regular season 19–12 overall and also posted an 8–10 conference record.
Miami and Stanford met on Feb. 19 in Coral Gables and the Hurricanes won 66–51. Five UM players reached double figures in that game. Sophomore guard Gal Raviv was the leading scorer with 19 points.
Amarachi Kimpson added 14 points, freshman Natalie Wetzel had 12, Ahnay Adams had 10 and grad student Ra Shaya Kyle, a Top 10 finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year award, recorded her 17th double-double of the season with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Miami forced Stanford into 17 turnovers while losing the ball just nine times. They held the Cardinal to 32% shooting (19 of 60) and 14% from beyond the arc (3-of-21).
“We shot the ball well that night,” Cullop said. “If you look at what we did yesterday [against Georgia Tech], we can’t have another offensive performance like that. We couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn.”
She expects a different game than their first meeting.
“Kate [Paye] is a smart coach, she’s going to have a great plan,” Cullop said. “I anticipate them making some changes in how they guard us. It will be a differently coached game on both ends of the floor. We’re probably going to have to be prepared for some different ball screens, a different break against our press, I see her making some strategic moves to be ready.”
Georgia Tech, Miami and Stanford all ended ACC play with matching 8–10 records. The Yellow Jackets secured the higher seed after recording wins over both the Hurricanes and the Cardinals in the tiebreaker. Miami followed the Yellow Jackets with a win over Stanford to be granted No. 12 in the bracket.
The winner of the Miami vs. Stanford game Wednesday will advance to the second round and face No. 5 seed Notre Dame on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.