Iowa vs. Louisville NCAA women’s basketball game time, TV, live stream, storylines

The No. 2-seed Iowa Hawkeyes (29-6) and No. 5-seed Louisville Cardinals (26-11) meet Sunday in an NCAA women’s basketball Elite Eight game at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

How to watch Iowa vs. Louisville Elite Eight game

Time: 8:20 p.m. (CT) Sunday, March 26, 2023

TV: ESPN

Live stream: ESPN.com

TV announcers: Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Andraya Carter, Holly Rowe

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

NCAA tournament picture for Iowa and Louisville

What’s at stake: The winner advances to the Final Four, where it will face No. 1 overall seed South Carolina or No. 2-seed Maryland on Friday in Dallas. The Hawkeyes have been to the Final Four once before, in 1993. Louisville has been to the Final Four four times, all under 16th-year head coach Jeff Walz (2009, 2013, 2018, 2022).

How they got here: Iowa used a big second half to beat No. 6-seed Colorado on Friday, 87-77. The Hawkeyes beat No. 15-seed Southeastern Louisiana 95-43 and No. 10-seed Georgia 74-66 in the first two rounds. Louisville followed Iowa with a 72-62 win over No. 8-seed Mississippi in Friday’s Sweet 16 nightcap. The Cardinals’ NCAA tournament run started with an 83-81 scare against 12th-seeded Drake, then they won at No. 4-seed Texas 73-51 in the second round.

Series: Louisville leads 2-0, including an 83-53 NCAA tournament second-round win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 2014.

Line: Iowa -5.5

Five facts about Iowa vs. Louisville

1. Iowa is 1-3 all-time in Elite Eight games, the most recent being an 85-53 loss to Baylor in 2019. Its win was 30 years, 72-56 over Tennessee in Iowa City.

⧉ Related article: Iowa’s lone women’s Final Four team wants to be joined by current Hawkeyes

2. Iowa scored the most points Colorado allowed all season in Friday’s Sweet 16 game. The Buffaloes entered the game ranked 46th in the country in scoring defense (58.5 points per game). Iowa leads the country in scoring offense, averaging 87.3 points. Caitlin Clark (26.9) ranks third individually.

3. Iowa has tied its program record for wins in a season, set previously in 1986-87 and 2018-19. Both of those teams also advanced to the Elite Eight.

4. Louisville’s leading scorer, Hailey Van Lith (19.5 points per game) is a 5-foot-7 junior guard who went to Cashmere High School in Washington, about 130 miles east of Seattle. She played with Clark on the USA team coached by Walz that won the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup.

5. Louisville fifth-year guard Chrislyn Carr is from Davenport and played two seasons at Davenport West before finishing her high school career across the river at Rock Island (Ill.). Carr is averaging 11.2 points in her first season with the Cardinals after previously playing at Syracuse and Texas Tech.

Iowa vs. Louisville pregame stories

» Louisville stands between the Hawkeyes and the Final Four

» Iowa’s lone women’s Final Four team wants to be joined by current Hawkeyes

» As Iowa advances, Megan Gustafson watches from Greece

» When Iowa recruit Ava Jones was severely injured last summer, Jeff Walz stepped up

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com