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Rebounding could be a key stat in Elite Eight battle between Texas, North Carolina State

Austin American-Statesman

First round: Texas Longhorns forward DeYona Gaston (5) snares a rebound in front of Drexel Dragons forward Jasmine Valentine (21). The Longhorns won 82-42.

PORTLAND, Ore. − On Sunday afternoon, No. 1 Texas (33-4) and No. 3 North Carolina State (30-6) will meet at the Moda Center to decide who is going to the Final Four.

One statistic to keep an eye on in this Elite Eight entanglement? Rebounding.

This season, Texas is averaging 40 rebounds per game. Out of 349 Division I teams, that ranks 46th.

More notable, though, is the Longhorns' positive rebounding margin of 10.4. Only five Division I teams − UCLA (13.9), LSU (12.6), South Carolina (12.2), Stanford (12.2) and James Madison (11.3) − are grabbing more rebounds than their opponents.

The Longhorns are 30-2 this season when they out-rebound their opponent. They are 2-2 when they lose the rebounding battle. Texas recorded an 88-75 win at Arizona in December during a game in which both teams grabbed 33 rebounds.

Mar 29, 2024; Portland, OR, USA; Texas Longhorns forward Khadija Faye (20) grabs a rebound during the first half against Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Kayleigh Truong (11) in the semifinals of the Portland Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at the Moda Center at the Moda Center.

Texas enters its Elite Eight matchup with a seven-game winning streak and it has won the rebounding battle in six of those victories. The one rebounding battle that UT lost during that stretch came during a 71-46 rout of a BYU team that has the nation's leading rebounder on its roster. Over the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Texas out-rebounded Drexel, Alabama and Gonzaga by 52 boards.

That brings us back to UT’s last loss on the scoreboard.

In a 71-70 loss at Oklahoma on Feb. 28 that decided the Big 12’s regular-season championship, Texas grabbed 30 rebounds. Oklahoma grabbed 47, 21 of which were offensive. Texas failed to secure key rebounds down the stretch and OU’s game-winning shot was set up by an offensive rebound.

"That game was low, as I'm sure many of you saw," junior forward Aaliyah Moore said this week. "We needed that, almost in a way. It was halfway through the season, maybe a little bit towards the end, but we needed that. I think we needed a news flash of teams are not going to back down and just because we might be bigger does not mean we're going to get every rebound. We need to lock in on the fundamentals, we need to box out, put a butt in the gut. I think we've done that in the practices since."

Assessed senior forward DeYona Gaston: "We just kind of took that loss as fuel in practice to really focus on how to take these moments in that are really important, that we need a good box-out or a good rebound or a good defensive stop. Those moments (are) really precious because you never know when you don't get a rebound and it's your last possession or it's your last game."

Texas Longhorns forward Taylor Jones (44) watches her free throw go in as her teammates and Texas Tech opponents run for the rebound in the second half of the Longhorns' game against the Red Raiders at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, Feb. 21, 2024. Texas won the game 77-72.

At 43.19, North Carolina State ranks 12th nationally in rebounds. The Wolfpack are grabbing over 11 offensive rebounds per game and boast the nation's 33rd-best rebounding margin (6.3).

How Texas fares in the rebounding department on Sunday could depend on the availability of senior forward Taylor Jones. The leading rebounder on the UT roster, Jones was in the concussion protocol on Friday and missed the Longhorns’ Sweet 16 showdown with Gonzaga. Schaefer said that Jones practiced on Saturday.