ASU women’s basketball clinched their fifth straight NCAA Tournament bid as they were named as the No. 7 seed in the Kansas City Regional.
Arizona State had to wait a long time on Selection Monday as the Sun Devils’ inclusion in the NCAA Tournament was the second-to-last game announced.
The Sun Devils were seeded seventh in the Kansas City Regional and will face the 10th-seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday in Austin, Texas.
“If I had to choose a location, we would have chosen that location just because of our proximity to Tempe and our fans, travel time and time change for us,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Nebraska is a great team. They really came on strong. I saw them play a little bit early and their coach has done a fantastic job as Coach of the Year. It’s going to be a fun matchup.”
Kianna Ibis, a Nebraska native, talked about the prospect of playing the Cornhuskers in the first round.
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“It’ll be fun for me,” Ibis said. “I know a couple of the girls on the team so it’ll be a fun matchup.”
Ibis added that she’s not ready to begin the trash talk with her friends on Nebraska.
The other matchup in the Austin quadrant is the host team and second-seeded Texas Longhorns against the 15th-seeded Maine Black Bears.
Arizona State will face a Big Ten team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year with the Sun Devils defeating Michigan State 73-61 last year in Columbia, South Carolina.
“I feel that we are young, but experienced,” guard Robbi Ryan said. “We are hungry and you never know what could happen in March and we’re ready just to go all out in the postseason.”
The Sun Devils were among six Pac-12 teams named to the field of 64 with UCLA seeded in the same region as the No. 3 seed and could meet in the Sweet 16.
Ibis discussed how the team is embracing a clean slate heading into the NCAA Tournament.
“Right now, it’s definitely a new season. Rankings don’t matter and you can’t underestimate anybody,” Ibis said. “It’s anybody’s game in the tournament and everybody is out to get you. It’s one-and-done.”
The top four seeds in the Kansas City Regional is No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 NC State.
The Cornhuskers earned an at-large bid going 21-10 and 11-5 in Big Ten play with their best wins coming against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament, two wins over Iowa and a win over Minnesota.
ASU and Nebraska have common opponents in Arkansas, Buffalo and Washington State with the Cornhuskers going 1-2 against those teams this season. The Sun Devils went 3-0.
Next: ASU Basketball: Three Takeaways from Pac-12 Women’s Tournament
Tip off of Arizona State-Nebraska is set for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT and it can be seen on ESPN2 and streamed on WatchESPN.