Top-seeded Texas improved to 35-3 by winning the Fort Worth regional and advancing to the program's sixth Final Four.
This was not your average No. 1-seed vs. No 2-seed matchup in the Elite Eight.
The top-seeded Texas Longhorns rolled through the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines 77-41 to capture the Region 3 Championship at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday. Texas now advances in the NCAA Tournament to the sixth Final Four in program history, and makes its first back-to-back trip since 1986-87.
Madison Booker scored a game-high 19 points, Rori Harmon scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished 13 assists (one off a career-high), and Kyla Oldacre posted a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double in the Longhorns' dominant showing.
Awaiting Texas is UCLA, the No. 1 seed from the Sacramento regional, in the nightcap on Friday with a trip to the national championship game on the line.
Both the Longhorns' offense and defense were clicking from the opening jump against the Wolverines. Texas shot 11-12 (92 percent) from the field in the first quarter to build a 17-point first-half lead while also holding Michigan to just 21 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes - its lowest-percentage of the season.
Despite a lower shooting clip in the second quarter, the Longhorns held onto a double-digit lead, 34-21, at the break with the All-American forward Booker leading all scorers with 15 points and six rebounds.
The second half began with Texas grabbing multiple offensive rebounds as Breya Cunningham and the 5-6 point guard Harmon controlled the glass and pace of play. Cunningham put the Longhorns up 40-23 halfway through the third quarter with an and-one conversion that made her 9-of-10 from the field over the last three games in the NCAA Tournament. She added another floater on the next possession.
Harmon was also one of Texas' most effective perimeter defenders. The senior point guard's ball-handling was crucial as the Wolverines rotated between a half-court zone, a full-court trap and an overall heightened urgency defensively. Clearly, they didn’t have an answer.
Booker's midrange jumper got the Texas offense up to a 20-point lead in the third period as the team shot 7-of-8 after starting 0-for-7 out of halftime.
The Longhorns led 55-29 going into the final period. That’s when things really got ugly for the 2 seed.
Texas scored 14 unanswered points to start the fourth and by the Michigan timeout at the 5:40 mark - where Texas led by 40 - the Longhorns' bench mob was expending as much energy as the players on the court through their celebrations.
The Longhorns faced the Bruins of UCLA once earlier this season, a 76-65 win for Texas in which Harmon scored the third-most points in a game (26) in her illustrious career. The 65 points for UCLA against this stifling Texas defense is a season-low. Texas led for all but two minutes of game time and held a largest lead of 23.
Texas will look to carry the momentum gained from this blowout in the Elite Eight into that Final Four meeting with the Bruins on April 3 in Phoenix at 8:30 p.m. CT.
