University of North Carolina Athletics
Chapel Hill NCAA Championship Preview
March 18, 2014 | Women's Basketball
No. 13 UT Martin
Location: Martin, Tenn.
Record: 24-7, 15-1 Ohio Valley
Bid: Automatic
Series record with UNC (Last meeting): 3-0 (UNC 96, UTM 36, Dec. 2, 2005, in Chapel Hill)
Carolina will open the tournament Sunday at 3 p.m. against the Skyhawks, regular season and tournament champions of the OVC. UT Martin dominated the Ohio Valley in 2014, losing just once in conference play before topping Belmont by 12 in the tournament championship game. Heather Butler, the OVC Player of the Year, leads a potent offense that averages nearly 85 points per game. In fact, the Skyhawks rank fourth in the country in offensive points per possession according to WBBstate.com, as their 1.09 PPP trails only Connecticut, Notre Dame and Maryland. UT Martin will also be happy to run with the Tar Heels - in the ACC, only UNC and Georgia Tech were faster than the Skyhawks.
No. 5 Michigan State
Location: East Lansing, Mich.
Record: 22-9, 13-3 Big Ten
Bid: At-large
Series record with UNC (Last meeting): 3-1 (MSU 72, UNC 66, Dec. 3, 2009, in East Lansing)
Michigan State surged to a share of the regular season title in the Big Ten by winning nine of its last 10 regular season games before falling to eventual champion Nebraska in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Spartans haven't lost to anyone but the Cornhuskers (who UNC beat 75-62 in December) in almost two months. Suzy Merchant's squad features four players who score in double figures with first-team All-Big Ten guard Aerial Powers leading the way at 13.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Michigan State had the Big Ten's best per-possession defense in league play according to WBBstate.com, holding opponents to 0.85 points per possession.
No. 12 Hampton
Location: Hampton, Va.
Record: 28-4, 16-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic
Bid: Automatic
Series record with UNC (Last meeting): 1-0 (UNC 93, HU 50, Dec. 31, 1998, in Chapel Hill)
Hampton has won five consecutive MEAC tournament titles and the Lady Pirates have not lost in 2014. After falling to Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Dec. 30, Hampton won 18 in a row, including a 50-47 victory over Coppin State in the MEAC final. Head coach David Six's squad suffocates its opponents on defense, holding the opposition to 0.75 points per possession according to WBBstate.com. Only overall No. 1 seed Connecticut has been better at preventing opponents from scoring. Seniors Nicole Hamilton and Alyssa Bennett were first-team All-MEAC picks and Malia Tate-DeFreitas was the league's rookie of the year. In 2011, Hampton was in the same four-team pod with UNC in Albuquerque, N.M., and fell to Kentucky by four in overtime.
