Top-Seed Louisville Plays 4-seed Tennessee in Sweet 16

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After recording wins over 16-seed UAlbany and 9-seed Gonzaga at the KFC Yum! Center last week, top-seed University of Louisville women's basketball advances to the Sweet 16 to face 4-seed Tennessee on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan. The game will broadcast on ESPN2 and 790-AM WKRD.

Tickets are available at GoCards.com/MarchMadness.

Tennessee advanced to the Sweet 16 with wins over 13-seed Buffalo and 12-seed Belmont.

Louisville is in the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight season, joining UConn, Stanford and South Carolina as the only four programs to accomplish that feat. This is their ninth Sweet 16 since 2011, which is tied for the fifth most appearances during that span. This is their 11th overall appearance in the Sweet 16, all under head coach Jeff Walz, and they are 6-4 all-time, winning their last three.

The Cardinals are making their 24th NCAA Tournament appearance and 13th in 14 tournaments under Walz. The Cardinals are playing in their 11th straight NCAA Tournament. Louisville is 39-23 all-time. They were 4-11 in their first 11 appearances and are 35-12 in their 13 appearances with Walz. They have moved on to the Sweet 16 11 times, the Elite Eight six times, Final Four three times (2009, 2013, 2018) and twice advanced to the title game.

Louisville leads the NCAA Tournament through two games with 28 steals, a +13.0 turnover margin and 22 turnovers forced per game. They are limiting opponents to 22.2 percent shoot from deep, which ranks seventh, their +20.5 scoring margin ranks eighth and their 75.5 points per game rank ninth.

Emily Engstler leads the NCAA Tournament with 12 steals through two games. Kianna Smith ranks 13th with a 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio and 18th with five made 3-pointers. Hailey Van Lith ranks 14th with 41 points.

Engstler had 12 points and 11 rebounds vs. Gonzaga for her 11th double-double, which ranks fourth in the ACC and are the most by a UofL player since Kylee Shook had 11 during 2019-20. Her 56 blocks this season rank third all-time in Louisville program history, behind Yuliya Tokova's 59 in 2006-07 and Kylee Shook's program-record 86 in 2019-20. She ranks eighth all-time with 283 rebounds and ninth with 82 steals.

Hailey Van Lith has put up 20 points in both NCAA Tournament games, with 20 against UAlbany and 21 against Gonzaga. It marks her first two 20-point games in the NCAA Tournament. She has scored in double figures 24 times this season and in 21 of the last 25 games. Last season, she scored in double figures in 18 of 30 games, so overall she has scored in double figures in 42 of 61 games for her career.

Earlier today, Engstler, Smith and Van Lith were all named WBCA All-America Region Finalists.

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS

Tennessee is 25-8 on the year and went 11-5 in SEC play. They were 18-1 in their first 19 games and are 7-7 since. The Volunteers gave up a 14-point lead to Belmont on Monday night but held on late after Belmont missed a few crucial free throws to get to their first Sweet 16 since 2016. The Vols rank third nationally with 48.0 rebounds per game, fourth with a +12.6 rebounding margin and sixth with 5.7 blocked shots per game. The Vols struggle from deep, shooting just 30% from beyond the arc. Tamari Key became Tennessee's all-time leading shot blocker in their win over Belmont and ranks second in the nation with 3.6 blocks per game. Her 3.7 offensive boards per game rank second in the SEC and 26th in the country. They have been without leading scorer Jordan Horston since Feb. 17.

Series History - Louisville is 2-2 all-time against Tennessee and 2-0 against the Volunteers in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals won 75-64 on March 20, 2017 at the KFC Yum! Center to advance to the Sweet 16. Louisville upended Tennessee 86-78 on April 2, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Okla., to advance to the Final Four. On Nov. 11, 2010, Louisville fell 63-50 to Tennessee in the first ever game at the KFC Yum! Center with a program-record 22,124 fans in attendance.

Last Meeting (March 20, 2017) - Asia Durr led the way with 23 points, while Myisha Hines-Allen finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as Louisville rallied from a point down entering the fourth quarter to a 75-64 win to advance to the Sweet 16.

GAME FACTS
Date: Saturday, March 26
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Site: Wichita, Kan. | Intrust Bank Arena (15,750)
TV: ESPN2 (Pam Ward, play-by-play; Stephanie White, analyst)
Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)
Last Meeting: W, 75-64 (March 20, 2017 in NCAA 2nd Round)
Series History: 2-2 (1-1 home, 0-1 away, 1-0 neutral)

For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, follow the team's Twitter account at @UofLWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLWBB.

Top-Seed Louisville Plays 4-seed Tennessee in Sweet 16

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Players Mentioned

Emily Engstler

Kianna Smith

Hailey Van Lith

University of Louisville Athletics