South Carolina and UNC face off in NCAA’s Sweet 16 round. How to watch, what to know
This year’s Sweet 16 opens with a battle of the Carolinas.
Dawn Staley’s top-seeded South Carolina (31-2) is set to face Courtney Banghart’s No. 5 North Carolina (25-6) in the first Sweet 16 matchup of the 2022 NCAA women’s basketball tournament. It’s the third Sweet 16 matchup between the programs, all coming since 2014.
The Gamecocks and Tar Heels meet 7 p.m. Friday at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The game will be televised on ESPN.
NCAA tournament: SC vs UNC score
Gamecocks using defensive strength to overcome offensive lapses
South Carolina has utilized one of the best defenses in the NCAA tournament in their wins over No. 16 Howard and No. 8 Miami, allowing the Bison and Hurricanes a combined 54 points, setting a tournament record for the fewest points allowed in the first two games.
“I think defense is a decision,” Staley said. “You either are going to do it or not. It’s not really a skill set. We’ve been very fortunate that we’ve been defending as long as I’ve been a coach.”
The early defensive strength is good news for South Carolina, which struggled on offense throughout the first two rounds of the tournament.
USC shot just 35.4% from the field against Howard and made a season-low 29.5% of its shots against Miami.
Staley said the Gamecocks have been working on getting their shots up in practice ahead of their Sweet 16 matchup.
“We’re also just letting our players know you just got to put the ball in the hole,” Staley said. “We don’t want them gun-shy. We want them to be able to shoot the shots that they naturally take and allow our rebounders to do their job.”
Banghart’s young UNC makes program’s first Sweet 16 since 2015
North Carolina hasn’t made it to the Sweet 16 since 2015 — when it, ironically, lost to South Carolina 67-65 in Greensboro. This year’s Tar Heels will look for a different result close to home, as Greensboro is just 52 miles from campus in Chapel Hill.
UNC defeated No. 12 Stephen F. Austin and No. 4 Arizona in Tucson to earn its trip to the Sweet 16.
North Carolina is headlined by star guard Deja Kelly, who averages a team-best 16.3 points per game.
Kelly and her teammates agreed the Tar Heels have come into every game this season with a chip on their shoulder, even though they went on a 13-game win streak to start the season, lost just five regular-season games to four opponents and defeated No. 1-seed Louisville.
“We’ve been good all year,” Kelly said. “We’ve had that mentality to where we knew we could make it this far. We’re really grateful to be here, but we’ve been this good all season.”
UNC has used the same starting five — a relatively young lineup including four sophomores and one graduate student throughout the entire 2021-22 season.
“I don’t think my guys feel young,” Banghart said. “Instead, they feel like they’re a really good team that has had to continually prove that. We’ve lost to four teams all year long. Four. One of them is a one seed. We lost to them twice. Then we’ve also beaten a one seed.”
The Tar Heels scrimmaged South Carolina to start the season, Banghart said, so a meeting with Staley’s Gamecocks won’t come with too many unknowns.
“You guys wouldn’t believe a word I said if I came up here and said I don’t think they’re very good,” Banghart said. “They’re an excellent team and a testament to the growth of our game and what Dawn has done. We’re excited for the opportunity and a chance to show how good we are, too.”
2022 March Madness: What’s at stake
The winner of Friday night’s game might want to stick around Greensboro Coliseum after the game’s over to catch a glimpse of the game between No. 3 Iowa State and No. 10 Creighton.
The winner of that matchup gets either South Carolina or UNC in Sunday’s Elite Eight game. Sunday’s meeting will determine which team advances out of the Greensboro Regional to the Final Four in Minneapolis, Minnesota, held on April 1.
The national championship will be played April 3.
The Bluejays (22-9) upset No. 7 Colorado and second-seeded Iowa in the first two rounds to make it to the Sweet 16, while Iowa State (28-6) claimed victories over No. 14 UT Arlington and No. 6 Georgia to advance to Greensboro.
How to watch South Carolina vs. UNC in the NCAA tournament
Who: No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks (30-2) vs. No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (25-6)
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
Watch on TV and stream: ESPN and ESPN app
Series history: UNC leads 11-8; the teams are 1-1 against each other in the NCAA tournament, with both postseason games coming in the Dawn Staley era. UNC won in 2014’s Sweet 16; USC returned the favor a year later in 2015’s Sweet 16.
NCAA Greensboro Regional, Friday game schedule
- No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 5 North Carolina, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
- No. 3 Iowa State vs. No. 10 Creighton, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 2:21 PM.
