UNLV Lady Rebels guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas reacts after the Lady Rebels’ NCAA Tournament selection is announced during a watch party at the Thomas & Mack Center Sunday, March 12, 2023. The Lady Rebels will face Michigan in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Friday.
Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 7:38 p.m.
The UNLV women’s basketball team is heading to the Bayou.
NCAA Tournament brackets were revealed on Sunday, and the No. 11 seed Scarlet and Gray will take on No. 6 Michigan on Friday in Baton Rouge.
The team was gathered with fans for a watch party at the Thomas & Mack Center, and though UNLV had already secured a berth in the 68-team field by way of its victory in the Mountain West tournament championship game on Wednesday, cheers broke out when the bracket flashed on the big screen.
The matchup came as a bit of a surprise, as the selection committee tends to keep teams close to home in the opening round. But head coach Lindy La Rocque said her team is fired up regardless of the opponent or destination.
“There’s always curveballs,” La Rocque said. “I’m excited to have this curveball and play a team out of region and travel across the country. It’s going to be a great experience for our team and we’re excited to get to work.”
Michigan went 22-9 this season, with an 11-7 mark in the Big 10. The Wolverines are an at-large entry, having lost to Ohio State in the quarterfinals of their conference tournament.
Leigha Brown is Michigan’s leading scorer at 18.0 points per game, and she also hands out 5.9 assists per contest. Emily Kiser averages 16.2 points and 71 rebounds.
La Rocque said she only got a chance to watch one Michigan game this year, so she and the rest of her staff have a lot of scouting work to cram into the next few days.
“We’re going to get to work really quickly here and figure out a lot about them in a short amount of time,” she said.
UNLV had been projected as a No. 12 seed by bracketologists after going 31-2 and winning the Mountain West tournament, so being bumped up a spot was a good sign, according to La Rocque.
UNLV was a No. 13 seed last year with a similar résumé and threw a serious scare into fourth-seed Arizona before falling, 72-67.
Sophomore guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas said UNLV is determined to finish the job this time.
“We went there last year, we were grateful to be there,” Durazo-Frescas said. “This year we want to go far. We want to get past the first round. We have some expectations.”
UNLV has won 22 straight games and is ranked No. 21 in the AP Top 25 poll. If the Scarlet and Gray were to beat Michigan on Friday, they would advance to the Round of 32 where they would face the winner of No. 3 LSU vs. No. 14 Hawaii.
About 300 fans attended the watch party, and the energy still had not subsided when it was time for the players to file out and begin their preparations for the tournament.
“It’s awesome to be a part of this,” Durazo-Frescas said. “It’s amazing to hear people say our names and know who we are.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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