Villanova is set to take on the Michigan Wolverines on Monday, March 21, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 11 seeded Wildcats enter play with a 24-8 overall record, while No. 3 seed Michigan is 23-6 on the season. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m., at the Crisler Center. The game can be seen live on ESPNU.
The Wildcats tallied a 61-57 upset win over No. 6 seed BYU in the first round, while Michigan downed American by a score of 74-39.
Monday's game against Michigan will be the third all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Wolverines with all three meetings taking place in the postseason. Michigan leads the all-time series over Villanova by a 2-0 margin. The Wolverines beat Villanova in a 2013 NCAA Tournament first round game (60-52) and in the semifinals of the 2017 WNIT (65-61).
The Wildcats are the 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. Villanova was also the 11 seed in the 1989 NCAA Tournament when the Wildcats lost at Old Dominion by a score of 66-41. After Saturday's win over BYU, Villanova is now 1-1 as the 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Wildcat sophomore
Bella Runyan is very familiar with Michigan Athletics as both her father (Jon, Sr.) and brother (Jon, Jr.) played football for the Wolverines. Jon Runyan, Sr., played in Ann Arbor from 1992-95 before going on to be an NFL offensive lineman for 14 seasons. Jon, Jr., played at Michigan from 2016-19 and is currently a starting guard for the Green Bay Packers.
Villanova received a strong contribution from freshman point guard
Lucy Olsen in Saturday's win over BYU. Playing in her first NCAA Tournament game, Olsen played 39 minutes and tallied nine points, a career-high six steals, three rebounds and three assists. She currently ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 6.9 points per game and she is second in assists with 87.
Junior forward
Maddy Siegrist enters play on Monday versus Michigan with 672 points scored this year. With four more points, Siegrist will break Shelly Pennefather's Villanova record for points scored by a junior. Pennefather registered 675 points as a junior in 1986-87.
The winner of Monday's Villanova/Michigan game will advance to the Sweet 16 next weekend in Wichita, Kansas and would take on the winner of the Baylor/South Dakota game.
