STORRS, CT (KELO) — SDSU is one step closer to making its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance following Friday’s practice and media session at the University of Connecticut.
“Fun to come to Connecticut, a place you know a lot about just from their history and their storied program so it’ll be fun to compete in their arena,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said.
Johnston has the Jackrabbits back in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years, and one win shy of the program’s third-ever 30-win season.
“We’ve had a great year, fun to see our team really play up to their full potential for all of our season, you know our non-conference schedule was incredibly difficult, we came out with a lot of positives there, had a good run through our conference season and into the conference tournament. Been off for a little while so hopefully been able to get a little healthy and a little bit of rest,” Johnston said.
The Jacks will need their full arsenal of weapons for Saturday’s matchup with Oklahoma State.
“Doing the little things well, rebounding, knowing our matchups, knowing what to do in scout defense and obviously playing confident on offense is also important, so I think just bringing all those little things to the game is going to give us the edge,” SDSU redshirt junior Haleigh Timmer said.
SDSU is the lower seed in this 7-10 matchup, but Oklahoma State head coach Jacie Hoyt, who spent five seasons in the Summit League at Kansas City, knows the Cowgirls are in for a battle.
“It’s about the toughest draw we could have gotten for the 10 seed,” Hoyt said. “They know how to play the game, and they know how to win. They’ve been to the tournament the last four out of five years, I believe. It wasn’t that long ago they were in a Sweet 16. This is a team that we certainly are not overlooking,” Hoyt added.
But that doesn’t mean her team is lacking confidence.
“They’re a really good team. They’re well-coached. They play together really well. I think if we show up and just play our best basketball, we’ll win the game,” Oklahoma State sophomore Stailee Heard said.
The Jackrabbits and Cowgirls tip off at 2:30 p.m. central time Saturday. We’ll have complete coverage of the Jacks’ tournament run both on-air and online.
