Buffalo earns 13 seed, will face #19 Tennessee in Wichita Region of 2022 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

The Buffalo Bulls, recently crowned champions of the Mid-American Conference women’s basketball championship tournament, drew their assignment in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday evening.

The Bulls will face traditional women’s basketball power Tennessee in a de facto road game in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the first round of Wichita Region action. Buffalo’s last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was three seasons ago in 2019, where they advanced to the second round as a ten-seed, beating Rutgers and losing to UConn.

Buffalo earned a 13 seed, and will face the fourth-seeded Lady Vols. All-time in the women’s tournament, the 4/13 matchup has generated 10 wins for the lower-seeded team,with a 10-108 record since 1988.

The Bulls are on a big hot streak going into the Big Dance, with a nine-game win streak as of Saturday evening, and winners of 14 of their last 15 games. Buffalo, coached by Felisha Legette-Jack, finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 25-8 record, including 16-4 in-conference. Their highlight win of the season was against Atlantic Coast Conference team Syracuse on a neutral court in Nassau, Bahamas, with commendable performances in losses against #1 South Carolina and Oklahoma in the same tournament.

The Tennessee Lady Volunteers, currently ranked #19 in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll, finished their 2021-22 campaign 23-8, with a 15-5 in-conference record in the tough-as-nails Southeastern Conference. Tennessee won all three of their games against Big 12 opponents, and also have a win against ACC opponent Virginia Tech— but also have two notable losses to UConn and Stanford in out-of-conference play. Tennessee holds five losses to five different SEC teams, including #1 South Carolina, with the latest loss in the second round of the SEC Tournament to Kentucky.

The game is set for Saturday, March 19, at a time to be determined later. Game coverage will be on the ESPN family of networks, with an exact channel to be determined closer to game time.