SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The 10th-seeded Virginia women’s basketball team (22-11) is set to take on third-seeded No. 14 TCU (31-5) in the Sweet Sixteen in the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship on Saturday (March 28). Tipoff from Golden 1 Center is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The winner of Saturday’s regional semifinal game will advance to take on either one seed South Carolina or fourth-seeded Oklahoma in the Elite Eight on Monday (March 30). Tip time and television designation are still to be announced.
Broadcast Information
- Saturday’s game will air on ESPN.
- Virginia’s NCAA Tournament games will also be broadcast on WINA (98.9-FM/1070-AM), VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Spots mobile app.
- Live statistics will be provided through StatBroadcast, which can be accessed on VirginiaSports.com.
For Openers
- Virginia has recorded three wins in an NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1996 season.
- UVA has not recorded four wins in an NCAA Tournament since 1991
- In her NCAA Tournament debut, Kymora Johnson became the only UVA player this century to record 10+ pts, 10 reb, 5 ast in an NCAA Tournament game. She joins Dawn Staley (1989, 1991), and DeMya Walker (1997) as the only players to accomplish the feat.
- Johnson comes off scoring 28 pts in back-to-back games
- She is just the fourth Cavalier to score at least 25 points in multiple NCAA Tournament games (Tora Suber, Heather Burge, Dawn Staley)
- Virginia has recorded 22 wins in a season for the first time since the 2011-12 season (25)
- UVA recorded 11 ACC wins in a season for the first time since 1999-00
- Kymora Johnson and Sa’Myah Smith became the first Cavalier Duo to score 20+ pts in an NCAA Tournament game since 1992 (Dawn Staley & Heather Burge) in Virginia’s first-round win over Georgia
- Virginia is averaging 75.2 points per game and limiting opposition to 64.6 ppg.
- The Cavaliers rank No. 3 in NCAA Division I with 6.4 blocks per game. Kentucky leads the nation with 6.6
- UVA has broken the program record for blocks in a season (211) for the second consecutive season.
- UVA ranks No. 24 in NCAA Division I and No. 2 in the ACC with 17.0 assists per game.
- Virginia is in its 53rd season of women’s basketball sporting a 1,015-575 (.638) record.
Look Hoos Dancing
- The Cavaliers are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2018, as well as its first under head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.
- Virginia owns a 37-25 record in the NCAA Tournament.
- UVA appeared in the tournament every year from 1984-2003, including a run of three consecutive Final Fours from 1990-92.
- The Cavaliers have won multiple games in an NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000 - their last appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
- Seven Cavalier players have a combined 19 games of NCAA tournament experience with 11 combined wins ahead of the 2026 tournament.
- Agugua-Hamilton has made a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances as a head coach at Missouri State (2021, 2022) including a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 2021.
- In her first season at Missouri State, Agugua-Hamilton had her team positioned to make the NCAA Tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Series with TCU
- Virginia is 1-0 in the all-time series with TCU.
- The lone matchup between the teams came on Nov. 27, 2010, when the Cavaliers defeated the No. 21 Horned Frogs 59-55 in neutral-site action at the Paradise Jam held in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- UVA’s Tabitha Amanze and TCU’s Olivia Miles played together at Blair Academy in New Jersey.
Going to California
- Virginia’s meeting with TCU will mark its 19th game played in the Golden State
- Virginia is 13-5 when playing in the state of California
- Before this season, the last time UVA played in California was in 2019 when the team split a pair of meetings between USC and Cal State-Northridge
- The Cavaliers have played three NCAA tournament games in California including a Final Four appearance against Stanford in 1992 – the Cavaliers own a 1-2 record overall in the NCAA Tournament in California
- Virginia is making its second trip to the Golden State this Season after splitting games with California and Stanford Feb. 12-15.
- The only other time UVA has made multiple trips to California in the same season was 1991-92. UVA swept a pair of games with UCLA and USC in the LA Gear Classic in December. Virginia fell to Stanford in the Final Four in Los Angeles that same season.
Johnson’s Statistical Milestones
- This season, she has connected on 99 three-pointers to set a single-season program record.
- With her five three-pointer performance against Georgia (March 21), Johnson hit her 223rd career three-pointer and surpassed Tora Suber’s program record of 220.
- Johnson set a UVA single-game record with 10 three-pointers in a win over Winthrop (Dec. 20).
- She ranks No. 6 in NCAA Division I and leads the ACC with 3.0 three-pointers per game this season.
- Johnson surpassed 1,600 career points in her 93rd career game in the regular season finale.
- She ranks 9th in program history with 1,707 points.
- Johnson became the fourth Division I player this century to reach at least 1,600 career points, and 500 career assists through 93 games joining Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) and Dequesha McClanahan (Winthrop).
- She is one of four players in NCAA DI averaging at least 19 points and 5.0 assists per game (Olivia Miles, Liv McGill, Hannah Hidalgo)
- In 2025, Johnson became one of just three players in program history to record a triple double (20pts, 11reb, 11ast at Pitt).
- The only other Cavaliers to accomplish the feat are Dawn Staley and Romi Levy.
Playoff Sa’Myah…
- In 2024-25, Sa’Myah Smith was sensational in the NCAA Tournament averaging 13.8 points and 10.25 rebounds while shooting the ball at a 63.9 percent clip
- She scored a career-high 21 points while pulling down 11 rebounds in a win over NC State in the Sweet 16 last season
- Smith has recorded a three of 20-pt performances in the NCAA tournament and four total games in double figures, for her career.
- Smith helped lead LSU to an elite eight appearance in 2025 starting all four games for the Tigers
- As a freshman in 2023, Smith came off the bench to help the Tigers claim the NCAA title
- In two NCAA tournaments at LSU, Smith averaged 6.7 pts and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting the ball at a 61.7 percent clip
Block Party
- Virginia is third in NCAA Division I with 6.4 blocks per game and is on track to be the second highest of any ACC team in the last 20 seasons, behind only the 2020-21 Syracuse squad (7.04).
- The Cavaliers have blocked at least 10 shots in four different games this season (Georgia Tech, FSU, Howard, UMES, and Morgan St.)
- Nine different Cavaliers are up to double-figures in blocks on the season, the most of any team in NCAA Division I
- Tabitha Amanze leads Virginia with 45 blocks on the season.
Crash the Glass
- The Cavaliers are 14th in NCAA Division I and lead the ACC in rebounding margin with a mark of 8.8
- The highest average rebound differential by any Virginia team this century was +6.5 in 2008-09.
- Virginia ranks second in the ACC with 14.2 offensive rebounds per game
- Amanze leads the team with 83 offensive boards on the season while Weimar has pulled down 81.
Dropping Dimes
- Virginia ranks No. 24 in NCAA Division I and No. 2 in the ACC with 17.0 assists per game as a team.
- The Cavaliers have recorded 20+ assists on nine occasions this season and posted 18+ assists 15 times as a team.
- Kymora Johnson ranks No. 15 in Division I and leads the ACC averaging 5.8 assists per game.
- With 550 career assists, Johnson ranks fourth in program history. She trails Donna Holt (561) for third on the list
- She recorded a season-high 11 assists against FSU.
Elite Bench Production
- Caitlin Weimar has provided crucial production off the bench this season for UVA.
- Weimar has recorded two 20-point games off the bench this season (25 pts at WF, 20 pts vs Pitt).
- Gabby White logged career highs in points (22), rebounds (12) and assists (6) off the bench in a triple-overtime victory at Wake Forest.
- The Cavaliers scored a season-high 56 points off the bench at Wake Forest.
- Among ACC players with 10 or less starts this season, Weimar ranks first with 1.3 blocks per game, and third with 2.5 offensive rebounds per game and second with 5.8 total rebounds per game.