How to watch, what to watch for in Gamecocks’ first round NCAA contest, region
South Carolina women’s basketball is set to start its bid for the second national championship in program history Sunday, when the No. 1 seed Gamecocks take on No. 16 seed Mercer in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Coach Dawn Staley and USC are a No. 1 seed for the fifth time in the past seven tournaments, but unlike years past, South Carolina won’t be playing the first two rounds from the comfort of home at Colonial Life Arena.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire tourney is being played in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas. Because of that, there are also no regionals in different cities. Instead, the Gamecocks are the No. 1 seed in the Hemisfair Region, named after the famous park in San Antonio.
Unsurprisingly, South Carolina is heavily favored to handle Mercer and advance out of the first round. There has only been one 16-seed upset in tournament history, back in 1998, and FiveThirtyEight’s March Madness prediction model gives USC a 99% chance of winning the game that tips at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
But don’t tell the Gamecocks that.
“We can’t take them lightly. It’s our first time playing them,” sophomore guard Zia Cooke said. “We’ve had film, we’re learning them as we go. And from the looks of it, they’re a pretty good team, and we don’t want to take anybody lightly, regardless of seed.”
This is actually South Carolina’s ninth time playing Mercer, but it is the first time the Gamecocks and the Bears have met since 2006, before either of their current coaches were in place.
The opposing coaches have some SEC connections — when Dawn Staley was first hired at South Carolina, Mercer coach Susie Gardner was an assistant at Florida. And on Friday, Staley praised the job Gardner has done.
“Susie Gardner is a great coach and I actually reached out to her as I was watching them in preparation,” Staley said. “They’re a good basketball team. Offensively, they score the basketball. They got four people that can actually put the ball in the hole, they put themselves in great positions where they can be efficient and effective. We got our hands full. At this time of the year, you have to forget about seeds, you have to forget about anything besides the 40 minutes or however many minutes it takes to win a basketball game.”
As Staley said, Mercer relies almost entirely on four players for its offensive production — redshirt senior guard Jada Lewis, senior guard/forward Shannon Titus, junior guard Amoria Neal-Tyson and junior forward Jarion Dougherty all average 13 or more points per game. No other player on the roster averages more than three.
Mercer made it into this year’s tourney by winning the Southern Conference tournament as the No. 2 seed, going 10-3 in league play. Gardner’s team has played three Power 5 opponents this season, losing all three.
HEMISFAIR REGION SEEDS
- South Carolina
- Maryland
- UCLA
- West Virginia
- Georgia Tech
- Texas
- Alabama
- Oregon State
- Florida State
- North Carolina
- Bradley
- Stephen F. Austin
- Lehigh
- Wyoming
- Mount Saint Mary’s
- Mercer
HEMISFAIR REGION FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
No. 1 seed South Carolina vs. No. 16 seed Mercer — Sunday, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 8 Oregon State vs. No. 9 seed Florida State — Sunday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
No. 5 seed Georgia Tech vs. No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin — Sunday, 4:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 4 seed West Virginia vs. No. 13 seed Lehigh — Sunday, 8 p.m., ESPNU
No. 6 seed Texas vs. No. 11 seed Bradley — Monday, 8 p.m., ESPN2
No. 3 seed UCLA vs. No. 14 seed Wyoming — Monday, 10 p.m., ESPN
No. 7 seed Alabama vs. No. 10 seed North Carolina — Monday, 12 p.m., ESPN
No. 2 seed Maryland vs. No. 15 seed Mount Saint Mary’s — Monday, 4 p.m., ESPN
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE OTHER SEEDS
No. 2 seed Maryland, which South Carolina will meet in the Elite Eight if the chalk holds, boasts the nation’s most impressive offense — the Terrapins are the only team in the country to average more than 90 points per game, and their 122.1 points per 100 possessions is a full 7.2 ahead of the next closest team. Leading the way, All-American Ashley Owusu averages 18.3 points, 5.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds per contest, but the Terps also feature some familiar faces for Gamecock fans: Senior forward Chloe Bibby is a grad transfer from Mississippi State, where she went up against USC often, while freshman forward Angel Reese included Carolina in her top 3 during the recruiting process.
Should Maryland win out as expected, the Gamecocks wouldn’t play No. 3 seed UCLA, but the Bruins have shown themselves capable of surprising some folks, upsetting top-seed Stanford on the road this February and taking down fellow three-seed Arizona. The tourney will challenge their depth though; the Bruins really only play seven players, and four of their starters average 30 minutes per game. That’s a lot of mileage already on their legs.
No. 4 seed West Virginia stands as a potential Sweet 16 opponent for South Carolina. The Mountaineers have exceeded expectations this year, going from unranked to start the season and picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 to No. 17 in the final AP poll and second in the conference. Senior guard Kysre Gondrezick averages 19.9 points and 4.5 assists per game to lead WVU, but she has been nursing a sprained ankle as of late, as have two other key contributors. And point guard Madisen Smith’s status remains unknown after she missed the past month.
Should West Virginia falter, No. 5 seed Georgia Tech is poised to step up and take on the Gamecocks in the Sweet 16. The Yellow Jackets were never ranked this year, but they consistently factored in the “receiving votes” category and have ascended remarkably quickly under coach Nell Fortner, who had been out of the coaching ranks for seven years and had transitioned to TV work before she arrived in Atlanta. GT features a balanced lineup featuring leading scorer Lotta-Maj Lahtinen, a Finnish guard, and top rebounder Lorela Cubaj, an Italian forward.
There’s a familiar face for Gamecock fans on the opposite side of the region — No. 6 seed Texas is coached by Vic Schaefer, who spent years developing Mississippi State into Carolina’s biggest SEC rival before joining the Longhorns this offseason. UT also features likely No. 1 WNBA draft pick Charli Collier, who is averaging 20.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. The Longhorns would have to pull some upsets to make a rematch between Schaefer and Dawn Staley happen, though, and they went 0-6 against teams in the final AP rankings this year.
No. 7 seed Alabama and South Carolina have already faced each other three times this season, with USC winning them all. ... No. 8 seed Oregon State and USC last met in 2018, when the Beavers upset the Gamecocks in a Thanksgiving tournament. ... No. 9 Florida State and the Gamecocks are familiar NCAA opponents, having met in three of the past five tournaments. ... No. 10 seed North Carolina has pulled off one upset already this season, taking down No. 4 N.C. State in February. ... No. 11 seed Bradley is making its first NCAA appearance after winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. ... No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin, the Ladyjacks, are riding a 19-game win streak, having not lost since Dec. 11. ... No. 13 seed Lehigh didn’t play a single nonconference game this season and pulled off two upsets en route to winning the Patriot League automatic bid. ... No. 14 seed Wyoming has a top-50 scoring defense, boosted by its extremely deliberate pace — only seven teams in the country played slower than the Cowgirls this season. ... No. 15 seed Mount Saint Mary’s is led by star guard Kendall Bresee, who averages 14.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
