CHAPEL HILL, NC – When the sixth-seeded West Virginia women’s basketball team (24-7) takes the floor at 2 p.m. on Saturday, it will mark the second season in a row that the Mountaineers are faced with an opponent out of the Ivy League in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After defeating Princeton in Iowa City, IA a year ago, 11-seed Columbia (24-6) will sit on the opposite bench in Chapel Hill, NC this weekend.
While no two teams are the same, head coach Mark Kellogg says parallels can be drawn between the Tigers and the Lions.
“I think they’re very tough. I thought we learned that a year ago when we played Princeton of the Ivy League just how tough that league is. And just physically, they just battle,” he said.
That physicality serves Columbia head coach Megan Griffith well as her team ranks seventh in the nation in offensive rebounding with more than 16 per game. Forwards Susie Rafiu and Perri Page have each collected over 70 offensive boards this season but it’s 5-10 guard Kitty Henderson that leads the Lions in that category with 77.
The willingness to attack the offensive glass up and down the lineup provides Griffith with the ability to mix and match who she puts on the floor, something Kellogg is prepared for.
“They can kind of go smaller where we’re maybe a little bit bigger. So do they match us? Do we match them? That coaching back and forth. That’s what’s fun,” he said.
Griffith isn’t used to having the size advantage over a Big 12 team like West Virginia but with no player in her starting lineup shorter than Henderson at 5-10, she says won’t be complaining.
“It’s unique to have size over a Big 12 opponent but their guards are all smaller than our guards. Now they’re extremely talented and athletic and fast. They also start a stretch player so it’s a different match-up for us,” she said.
Preparation for Saturday’s game has been a more in-depth process than usual for Kellogg and his staff. Columbia earned the right to face the Mountaineers by erasing a 13-point deficit against Washington in a First Four matchup on Thursday night.
A key part of that preparation now that the opponent is established will be preparing for the full court pressure the Lions will try to attack Mountaineer ball handlers with. While WVU’s trademark pressing defense has resulted in more than 23 forced turnovers per game this season, Columbia brings a different approach.
At 18.1 turnovers per game, the Lions rank outside the top 75 nationally in the category. West Virginia will face a press that may be less aggressive but is no less dangerous and senior guard JJ Quinerly says the amount of ball handling her team has is a key.
“We have a lot of guards that can handle the ball. We have Kyah (Watson) that can bring the ball up the court. We have a lot of people that can handle it,” she said.
Her backcourt mate Jordan Harrison added that against a more relaxed defense like Columbia’s, passing becomes even more important.
“They play a different pressure defense than we do. Their press kind of starts at the free-throw line, where ours is wherever you go, we go,” she said, “But I think, honestly, like attacking their pressure, we just have to try to pass it through, get it to the middle.”
The quick turnaround leaves the Lions with less than two days to prepare for West Virginia’s pressure. Both Griffith and guard Cecelia Collins drew comparisons between WVU’s defense and that of Ivy League foe Harvard.
“They’re just a really scrappy team in general. Super physical. They’ll go for a ton of steals, especially when they press you in the full court. So I think they’re different in that way. I don’t think Harvard is as aggressive but they’re a very good team. They’re very well coached. We just have to be disciplined,” Collins said.
Henderson added that no matter the time they have to get ready, these are the kind of games they’ve prepared for the whole season.
“This is just what you prepare for all year. This is why you do ball handling every day. This is why you do all the little details. I think we’re ready for it, and we just have to trust our work,” she said.
Columbia’s top scorer is guard Riley Weiss, a sophomore averaging 18.0 points per game who put 24 points on the board and hit five three-pointers in the win over Washington. Griffith said her mentality has allowed her to take a step toward her lofty potential this season.
“This is the part I knew would be her biggest growth step, was just the mentality to play college basketball at this level,” she said, “And I think that’s what I’ve been most proud of is Riley’s level of toughness. I don’t know if anybody knew — she definitely didn’t — how far, how high she could grow, what her ceiling would be.”
In addition to Weiss, Collins and Henderson each post more than 13 points per game for a Lion team that averages over 73 each contest.
Kellogg and his staff have found a way to get players ready for individual matchups that he believes will serve them well dealing with quick turnarounds in tournament play.
“I think you’re just at this point drawing off previous game plans of teams that have played a similar way. Not that we have a lot of those in our league that play like Columbia does, but we have some. So those are game plans that you just go back in, and you draw off of that game plan and remind them of some familiarity, even from personnel,” he said, “You know, we like to compare them to kids maybe from our conference that we’re familiar with so we can say, ‘Oh, this No. 24 at Columbia plays like so and so in our league.’ That’s just because we’re not quite as familiar, then that resonates.”
West Virginia and Columbia meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 2 pm on Saturday, broadcast on ESPNEWS.