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Ole Miss women's basketball vs. Gonzaga: March Madness scouting report, score prediction

david eckert, mississippi clarion ledger
·3 min read

OXFORD — Ole Miss women's basketball couldn't be more different from its first-round opponent in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Gonzaga. The Rebels got here with physicality and elite defending. The Bulldogs rode an outstanding offense to a WCC regular-season title.

It should provide for an interesting showcase when these two programs meet on Friday (9 p.m. CT, ESPNU) at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California.

Here's what to know before the Rebels (23-8) and Bulldogs (28-4) clash.

Strength vs. strength

The Ole Miss defense is built to prevent layups and 3-pointers.

Friday, it will come up against the best 3-point shooting team in the nation.

Gonzaga converts from beyond the arc at a 41.5% clip. The Bulldogs get just over 29% of their total points from the 3-point shot. Their overall field-goal percentage is 45.3 – 28th nationally.

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If Ole Miss allows Gonzaga to live up to those numbers in this game, it will likely be on a flight home Saturday morning. But it's a good bet that the Rebels will limit the Bulldogs to some degree.

Ole Miss finished the season as the SEC's second-best defensive team, behind only South Carolina in surrendering 56.8 points per contest. The Rebels' foes have managed only a 25.5% success rate from 3-point land. The 3.4 3-pointers Ole Miss allows per game is the third-fewest nationally.

Gonzaga is elite on offense and Ole Miss is elite on defense. Whichever one of those strengths wins out will likely determine who advances.

Star watch

Gonzaga is led by guard Kaylynne Truong, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.

The 5-foot-8 senior averages 16.1 points per game, stepping into the point guard role for Gonzaga in place of her sister, Kayleigh. She excels as a distributor, too, dishing out 5.0 assists per contest.

Truong isn't the leading scorer for the Bulldogs, though. That honor belongs to Yvonne Ejim, a forward who averages 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds. Guard Bryanna Maxwell, scoring 13.8 points per game, joined that duo as a first-team All-WCC honoree.

The Rebels bring a pair of their own all-conference players into this one.

Guard Angel Baker claimed first-team All-SEC honors for her outstanding campaign. Her 15.1 points per contest lead the Rebels, and she contributes 5.5 rebounds, too, despite coming in at just 5-foot-8.

Forward Madison Scott was a second-team All-SEC honoree. A three-year starter for Ole Miss, she's had her best season yet, posting 11.8 points and 8.2 boards. She's also averaged nearly a block per game over the course of her career.

Prediction

Ole Miss 67, Gonzaga 63. This is not going to be easy for the Rebels, but they've got more than one path to winning this game. If they shoot the ball well they're in great shape, but, even if they don't, they've proven they can will their way to wins against quality opposition with outstanding defense. Gonzaga needs to play efficient offense to walk away with a win.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss women's basketball vs Gonzaga: Scouting report, score prediction