NCAA Tournament bracket | FGCU statistics | FGCU schedule/results
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Almost 24 hours after punching their automatic qualifier ticket into the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, the No. 23 FGCU Eagles (32-3) learned Sunday night who they will play and where in this week's First Round: 22nd-ranked Washington State on Saturday.

A No. 12 seed in the Greenville 2 Regional, FGCU takes on the fifth-seeded Cougars at Villanova, Pa., on Saturday. Tip-off time from Finneran Pavilion on Villanova's campus will be determined by ESPN late Sunday night. The FGCU-Washington State winner gets the winner of No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 13 Cleveland State in Monday's Second Round.

Washington State (23-10, 9-9) won the Pac-12 Championship with a 66-61 victory over UCLA and enters postseason play No. 30 overall in the NET Rankings. 
 
The Cougars are No. 32 nationally with 4.4 blocks per game. Both 6-foot-3 senior center Bella Murekatete and 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Tara Wallack have both posted 40-plus blocks on the year.
 
Washington State is second in the Pac-12 in 3-point percentage defense, holding its opponents to 30.2 percent from deep.

FGCU has rich history playing in the Philadelphia area, as the 2012-13 Dunk City men's team advanced to the Sweet 16 from the City of Brotherly Love.
 
The Green & Blue are in the NCAA Tournament for a ninth time, joining squads from the 2021-22, 2020-21, 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17, 2014-15, 2013-14, and 2011-12 seasons.
 
All the NCAA Tournament games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. The games officially tip off March 15-16 with the First Four. The first round will be March 17-18, and there is no time to rest – as the second round starts right afterward on March 19-20.
 
FGCU earned its Big Dance ticket by defeating Liberty 84-60 in Saturday night's ASUN Tournament title game – the 10^th ASUN Tournament crown for the Eagles in just 12 years of eligibility. In all, FGCU has earned an incredible 23 ASUN regular season and tournament championships in its 14-year Division I history.
 
The Eagles have won 14 straight games, and finished the 2022-23 home season with a 16-1 mark at Alico Arena. FGCU is now 56-7 all-time as a ranked team, 33-2 in ASUN tournament play – with six straight ASUN Tournament titles – and is 47-16 all-time in Division I postseason play. The 2022-23 squad entered Sunday's final day of nationwide conference title games at No. 36 in the NCAA Women's Basketball NET Rankings.
 
FGCU and Connecticut are the only active programs in the nation to win at least 25 games in 13 straight seasons. The Green & Blue joins South Carolina as the only two Division I programs to win 30 or more games in six of the last nine seasons.
 
The Eagles lead the nation in 3-pointers and 3-pointer per game – having made 413 triples for an 11.8 per-game average. FGCU has also tripled opponents' treys total, allowing only 132 this season. FGCU has led the nation in made 3s per game in each of the past three years and in four of the last five seasons.
 
For complete coverage of FGCU women's basketball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_WBB and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU women's basketball and other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
 
COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko maintains a record of 642-131 (.831) overall in his career, the third-highest winning percentage among active Division I coaches behind only UConn's Geno Auriemma and LSU's Kim Mulkey. He has also led the Eagles to a 249-19 (.929) mark in ASUN regular-season play and a 33-2 (.943) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the previous 11-plus seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 185-7 (.963) record in conference play with six undefeated seasons. The 13-time ASUN Coach of the Year has led the program to 13 straight 25-win seasons and 19 consecutive 20-win campaigns, including 30-plus wins in six of the last nine years. On top of all that, the Eagles are 581-104 (.848) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green & Blue's .848 all-time winning percentage is the best in NCAA Division I women's basketball history.
 
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness. 
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 96 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 48 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Nine FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 23 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 24 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022), and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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