On Sunday, March 22 (ET), ole miss women’s basketball walks into Williams Arena as the No. 5 seed, stepping into a second-round NCAA tournament game that Minnesota has framed as a rare chance to push past history and into the Sweet 16.
What is at stake in Ole Miss Women’s Basketball vs. Minnesota?
A Sweet 16 berth sits on the other side of one game. Minnesota, the No. 4 seed, is hosting the No. 5 Ole Miss Rebels at Williams Arena in the second round after both teams advanced from Friday’s opening games. Minnesota is attempting to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2005, and Sunday is also tied to a different kind of memory: 2005 was the last time the program hosted first- and second-round games at Williams Arena.
For Ole Miss, the urgency comes with momentum. The Rebels advanced by beating No. 12 Gonzaga 81-66 on Friday. Minnesota advanced by beating No. 13 Green Bay 75-58 on Friday after trailing for the first three quarters, a comeback that set the stage for a home game carrying both pressure and possibility.
When and where is the game, and how can fans follow it?
The game is scheduled for Sunday, March 22 (ET), at Williams Arena. The broadcast is airing on, and it can be heard on KFAN. On the floor, it is a matchup between Minnesota (23-8) and Ole Miss (24-11), separated by one seed line and one win from the kind of bracket movement that can reshape a season’s story in a single afternoon.
The winner will move on to face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 1 UCLA and No. 8 Oklahoma State. That next game is set for March 27 (ET) in Sacramento, California—an outcome that turns Sunday’s contest into more than a second-round meeting, and into a gateway to the tournament’s next city and next stage.
How did both teams get here, and what does Sunday represent?
Minnesota’s route to Sunday included a first-round game defined by persistence. The Gophers beat Green Bay 75-58 on Friday despite trailing for the first three quarters, then reset quickly for a second-round test against an opponent that has already shown its ability to separate from a strong seed line. Ole Miss, meanwhile, entered the second round after beating Gonzaga 81-66 on Friday, a decisive result that signals why Minnesota expects a difficult opponent.
For Minnesota, the setting itself matters. The Gophers are in their first NCAA tournament since 2018, and the program’s long wait to return to this stage is part of what makes the building feel different when the lights come on. Sunday is not only a game on the bracket; it is also a moment of continuity for a fan base that remembers the last time this arena hosted both early rounds.
That is the tension that arrives with ole miss women’s basketball on the other sideline: one team playing to extend a homecoming into a breakthrough, the other playing to turn a first-round win into something that travels.
