On Wednesday evening, the Southern Jaguars possible made alum Avery Johnson proud of their First 4 matchup towards the UC San Diego Tritons.
After Southern punched its ticket to the NCAA Match, Johnson — who received an NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 — congratulated the crew on his X account and challenged them to make it to the Candy 16.
Whereas the Jaguars aren’t anticipated to make it that far, not less than they picked up their first NCAA Match win in ladies’s basketball at school historical past.
Southern beat UC San Diego 68-56 at Pauley Pavillion in Los Angeles. The Jaguars managed many of the recreation. At halftime, they led 40-20. In addition they outrebounded the Tritons 36-29 and shot 49% from the sector.
Jaguars junior guard Soniyah Reed turned in considered one of her finest video games of the season. She scored a season-high 24 factors on 8-of-10 capturing.
Southern head coach Carlos Funchess most likely is not shocked his squad made college historical past. He observed they appeared locked in earlier than the beginning of the season.
“The crew returned to campus on June 3 with two objectives: to win a regular-season championship and make it to the NCAA Match,” Funchess said in a narrative printed by HBCU Sports activities.com on Wednesday. “They sacrificed their complete summer time to start out figuring out and situation in preparation for the upcoming season. They knew with the addition of 9 gamers this could be vital to our success, in order that they we’re all-in.”
The No. 16 seed Jaguars will face No. 1 seed UCLA within the spherical of 64 on Friday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN. Anticipate them to be a substantial underdog. As of Wednesday, FanDuel Sportsbook offers the Bruins the third-best odds (+600) to win the nationwide championship.
