No. 2 Gophers, No. 3 Buckeyes Battle in Sweet 16

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The No. 8 (#2 seed) Minnesota Golden Gophers (22-8, 15-5 Big Ten) take on the No. 10 (#3 seed) Ohio State Buckeyes (21-9, 15-5 Big Ten) in the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at Gregory Gym in Austin, Texas. ESPN2 will provide television coverage Thursday with Courtney Lyle (play-by-play) and Holly McPeak (analyst) on the call. The winner of Minnesota and Ohio State will take on the winner of No. 1 seed Texas and No. 4 seed Marquette on Saturday night at 5 p.m. CT. That game will be shown on ESPNU.

SWEET 16 BROADCAST INFORMATION
No. 2 Minnesota vs. No. 3 Ohio State | 11 a.m. CT | ESPN2
Thursday, Dec. 8
Gregory Gymnasium
Austin, Texas
Broadcasters: Courtney Lyle (Play-By-Play), Holly McPeak (Analyst)
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7FM); Tanner Hoops (PBP)

ELITE EIGHT BROADCAST INFORMATION
Winner of Minnesota/Ohio State vs. Winner of Texas/Marquette | 5 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Saturday, Dec. 10
Gregory Gymnasium
Austin, Texas
Broadcasters: TBA
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7FM); Tanner Hoops (PBP)

NUMBERS TO KNOW:
277 -- Minnesota head coach Hugh McCutcheon holds a 277-73 (.788) collegiate coaching record and has led Minnesota to two Big Ten Championships, three Final Fours, 10 trips to the Sweet 16 and five to the Elite Eight. He joins Mike Hebert (1996-2011; 381-136 (.737)) as the second coach in Minnesota history to win 270 matches. Hebert also led the 'U' to three Final Fours.
27 -- The 2022 season is the 27th year the Golden Gophers advanced to the NCAA tournament. That marks eight-straight seasons and 10 of 11 seasons under Hugh.
20 -- Times this year Minnesota has tallied over 10 blocks in a match. The Gophers are 16-4 in those matches.
14 -- Minnesota's Taylor Landfair ranks 18th nationally in both kills (4.37) and points (4.93) per set. She leads the B1G in both.
15 -- Of Minnesota's 28 regular season matches were versus ranked opponents. The Gophers are 8-7 in those contests.
8 -- The Gophers hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight year.
8 -- Melani Shaffmaster now ranks 8th all-time in Minnesota history with 2,995 career assists.
8 -- For the first time in program history, all of the Gophers non-conference opponents made the NCAA Tournament. Baylor, Florida, Oregon, Pepperdine, Stanford, TCU, Texas and Washington State are in.
6 -- Of the past eight Big Ten Players of the Year have been Minnesota Golden Gophers. Taylor Landfair (2022) joins Stephanie Samedy (2020, 21), Sam Seliger-Swenson (2018), Sarah Wilhite (2016) and Daly Santana (2015) as award winners under Hugh.
4 -- Minnesota ranks 4th nationally with 2.92 blocks per set.
3 -- Graduate libero CC McGraw ranks No. 3 all-time at Minnesota with 1,907 career digs. She passed Dalianliz Rosado (1,870) for the No. 3 spot last weekend at Ohio State. Christine Tan ranks No. 2 in Gophers history with 1,927. CC has played in 132 career games, which ranks No. 20 at Minnesota.
2 -- Hugh McCutcheon became the second winningest coach in Minnesota history with the Oct. 9 win over Michigan State, his 264th win at the helm of Minnesota.
2 -- Minnesota ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten in hitting percentage at .262. In Big Ten matches, the 'U' is hitting .266, which comes in at No. 1 in the league.
1 -- The 2022 season will be the last for legendary Minnesota head coach Hugh McCutcheon, he announced in mid-October. McCutcheon will transition to the Assistant AD for Coaching Development role at the 'U' in January.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Gophers swept SE Louisiana and Northern Iowa last weekend to advance to their eighth consecutive Sweet 16. Jenna Wenaas (10 kills, 14 digs) and Carter Booth (11 kills) led Minnesota on Friday night.
• Minnesota responded to a bit of first set adversity Saturday, finishing the frame on an 11-2 run before taking care of business in the last two sets. Taylor Landfair had 11 kills while Booth tied a career-best with 11 blocks.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• The No. 10 Ohio State Buckeyes (21-9, 15-5 Big Ten) challenged themselves with a difficult non-conference slate, playing seven top-25 teams to prepare them for B1G play. OSU then won 15 of its first 16 league games before dropping its last four to Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• OSU is led by third year head coach Jen Flynn Oldenberg, who is 64-19 thus far for the Buckeyes.
• Big Ten Setter of the Year Mac Podraza leads the B1G with 11.12 assists per set while Emily Londot ranks fifth with 3.82 kills per set. Libero Kylie Murr (4.79 dps) earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors. OSU ranks third in the league in hitting (.254), but first in assists (13.31) and kills (14.19) per set.

HISTORY VERSUS OHIO STATE
• Minnesota is 47-36 all-time against Ohio State, including a 16-2 mark under Hugh McCutcheon. The Gophers have won 11 of 12 in the series with the loss coming on Oct. 12 at the Pav. Under Hugh, Minnesota is 8-1 at home and 8-1 on the road against the Buckeyes. They played once in the NCAA Tournament, in 2004, when the Gophers won a five-set thriller in the Regional Final to advance to the Final Four.

GOPHERS NCAA HISTORY IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
• Minnesota took down Florida in five sets and Louisville in three sets in 2019 in Austin to reach the Final Four. Louisville upset Texas in the Regional Semifinal.
• The Gophers have faced Texas twice in the NCAA Tournament, losing in the Final Four in both 2009 and 2015. They have never squared off in the tournament in Austin, however.

MINNESOTA'S NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Minnesota is making its 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2022. The 'U' has made the tournament in 10/11 seasons under Hugh and 23 of the last 24 overall.
• The Gophers all-time record in NCAA Tournaments is 61-26. Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota is 28-9 in the tournament, including a perfect 19-0 record in first and second round matches. All of those have come at Maturi Pavilion besides the spring of 2021, when they played in the bubble in Omaha, Neb.
• All-time, Minnesota has made the Final Four six times (2003, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2019), including three times under Hugh McCutcheon. The 'U' made the national title match in '04, losing in three sets to Stanford.
• As a program, the Gophers have made the Sweet 16 on 20 occasions and the Elite Eight on 10 occasions. Under Hugh McCutcheon, Minnesota has made the Elite Eight five times, posting a 3-2 record thus far.
• Playing at home in the NCAA Tournament, Minnesota is 18-1 under Hugh McCutcheon. The only loss came in the 2018 Sweet 16 to Oregon. Minnesota came into the 2018 NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, hosting the first and second rounds in addition to regionals.
• 2008 was the last time that Minnesota made the NCAA Tournament but didn't at least make the Sweet 16.

TAYLOR LANDFAIR NAMED AVCA NORTH REGION AND BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
• For the sixth time in the last eight seasons, Minnesota will have the Big Ten Player of the Year. Redshirt sophomore outside Taylor Landfair came home with the award after a big time season in which she led the conference in kills (4.37) and points (4.93) per set. Her 27 double-figure kill matches led the league and ranked in the top-five nationally. She also had three matches with 25-or-more kills, a league best.
• Landfair earned AVCA North Region Player of the Year honors on Tuesday. She was 2020-21 AVCA North Region Freshman of the Year as well. She's expected to be named a First Team All-American next weekend.

FIVE GOPHERS HONORED FOR ALL-BIG TEN AWARDS
• Joining Landfair on the All-Big Ten First Team was junior setter Melani Shaffmaster and freshman middle Carter Booth. Landfair made first team all-league in her freshman spring season but it's the first All-Big Ten honor for both Shaffmaster and Booth.
• Graduate libero CC McGraw earns her third career All-Big Ten honor, making Second Team All-Big Ten.
• Booth joins fellow freshman Mckenna Wucherer on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

MCGRAW MOVES HER WAY UP RECORD BOOKS
• CC McGraw now ranks No. 3 in Gophers history with 1,907 digs. CC is now 93 digs away from becoming just the 10th player in B1G Volleyball history and second Gopher ever to reach 2,000 in her career.
• McGraw ranks 23rd among active Division I players in digs and second in the Big Ten (Kylie Murr, 1,908).
• In three of her four seasons, McGraw has made Minnesota's top-20 list for most digs in the season. In 2018, she had 428 (18th), 450 (16th) in 2019 and a career-best 510 in 2021 (12th). She's the second Gopher to have three-or-more seasons with 400-or-more digs. So far in 2022, McGraw has tallied 352 digs.

BLOCK PARTY IN MINNESOTA
• So far in 2022, Minnesota ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten and No. 4 nationally with 2.92 blocks per set.
• Carter Booth leads the Gophers and ranks 5th in the B1G and 12th nationally with 1.47 blocks per set.
• Booth is just the fifth Gophers freshman since 2006 to record 100 blocks in her rookie season. She joins Regan Pittman (2017), Hannah Tapp (2013), Tori Dixon (2010) and Lauren Gibbemeyer (2007) on the list. All went on to receive All-America honors in their careers. Tapp, Dixon and Gibbemeyer all became U.S. Olympians.

GOPHERS HEATING UP HITTING
• Minnesota ranks No. 29 nationally in hitting percentage at .262 for the year. In Big Ten play, the Gophers are up to .266 hitting for the year, which leads all teams in the conference.
• The 'U' has hit .300-or-better 11 times this year, going 11-0 in those matchups.

WINNING WAYS
• Minnesota has won 16 of its past 19 games, with the only losses coming to No. 6 Ohio State (Oct. 12), No. 5 Wisconsin (Oct. 29) and No. 14 Penn State (Nov. 18). 11 of the wins have come in sweeps, with four coming in four sets and one coming in five.

MONSTER BLOCK, MONSTER BLOCK
• In the last six games, Minnesota has totaled 10-or-more blocks six straight times, going 5-1 in those contests. The Gophers have tallied 73 blocks as a team in that span.
• Minnesota registered a season-best 16 blocks on Saturday versus Northern Iowa in just three sets. It's the first time the 'U' has had more than 15 in a contest since the spring of 2021 against Pittsburgh.

BOOTH BLOCKS OUT THE NOISE
• The No. 14 overall recruit in the class of 2022, middle blocker Carter Booth has made an immediate impact in the Gophers lineup. In her first collegiate match, she posted a Minnesota freshman record with 11 blocks against Baylor.
• She's had blocks in 26 of 30 matches and leads the 'U' with 135 (1.47 ps) thus far. She tallied her first double digit kill match with 12 on 9/17 against Washington State and again posted 10 on Oct. 29 at Wisconsin. She had a season-high 13 kills in a win at No. 8 Ohio State on Nov. 25.
• As it stands, Booth's hitting percentage (.380) would rank 8th all-time in Minnesota laurels for a single season. Her 1.47 b/s would be a freshman record and rank No. 7 all-time.
• Booth ranks fifth in the Big Ten and in the top-20 nationally (12) in blocks per set and is one of just seven Big Ten players to tally double digit blocks in a match this year. She's the only Big Ten player with three-or-more 10+ block matches in 2022. She's also the only freshmen to rank in the top-10 in the Big Ten in blocks per set this season.

UP NEXT
• If Minnesota defeats Ohio State, it will play Saturday in the NCAA Regional Final. After that, it's the Final Four in Omaha, Neb., Dec. 15-17.

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Players Mentioned

Carter Booth

Taylor Landfair

CC McGraw

Stephanie Samedy

Melani Shaffmaster

Jenna Wenaas

Mckenna Wucherer