March 16, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF women's basketball team will make its return trip to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at noon against third-seeded North Carolina in the opening round of the Oklahoma City Regional at The McKenzie Arena in Chatanooga, Tenn. The Knights, seeded 14th in the regional, are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 199 9 and the program's third overall.
The team learned of its draw together Monday night while watching ESPN's Selection Special at assistant coach Greg Brown's house. As one of four games Saturday at noon, the contest will kick off the 2009 NCAA Tournament and will be carried live on ESPN2.
"We are excited to now know our opponent and where we will be playing. It was a great feeling to see our name pop up," said head coach Joi Williams. "Obviously we have a tough test playing against a talented North Carolina team, and we will have to practice and prepare hard in the coming days to ready ourselves for this opportunity. It is an exciting time for our program going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since joining Conference USA."
UCF enters the tournament riding a season-best six-game winning streak after claiming the Conference USA tournament title with four wins in four days from March 5-8. The Knights have not lost since Feb. 21 at Tulane, and at 17-16 overall sit above .500 for the first time this season. UCF has won 15 of its last 20 games overall.
The Tar Heels enter the tournament with an overall record of 27-6 after defeating South Dakota 75-69 on Sunday in a non-conference game. UNC fell to Maryland on March 8 in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
The winner of the UCF-UNC contest will advance to Monday's round of 32 to face the winner of sixth-seeded Purdue and 11th-seeded Charlotte. Purdue and Charlotte will meet Saturday afternoon in Chatanooga following the UCF-UNC game.
For the seventh consecutive year, the ESPN networks will combine to present all 63 games from the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. During the first two rounds, ESPN and ESPN2 will present the 48 games within 12 telecast windows in a whip-around format with home market protection. ESPN360.com will offer complete game telecasts of all 63 games, while ESPNU will offer select ESPN and ESPN2 early-round games in their entirety. The final 15 games (regional semifinals on) will have national telecast windows on ESPN or ESPN2. The complete schedule will be announced on a later date.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.