How South Carolina WBB is handling rare underdog role vs. UConn in Final Four
In the last few years South Carolina women’s basketball has rarely entered games as an underdog.
Now, underdog can mean a few different things. There’s the literal sense: One team being favored over another in a game via a point spread or betting odds. And then there’s the proverbial sense: where one team is favored over another because of vibes and social media chatter.
Use whatever definition of “underdog” you want. It’s a label rarely used to describe Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks. Yet here we are in the 2026 Final Four and South Carolina has found themselves playing the role of an underdog.
No. 1 seed South Carolina (35-3) is set to play No. 1 overall seed UConn (38-0) with a spot in the national title game on the line on Friday. The Gamecocks are by no means a Cinderella, but the Huskies are favored nearly across the board in the game, so the underdog description feels apt.
“Most people are counting us out,” South Carolina forward Maryam Dauda said.
UConn a unanimous media pick vs. Gamecocks
DraftKings has UConn a 6.5-point favorite on Thursday. ESPN Analytics gives South Carolina just a 35.1% chance of winning the game. Analytics site BartTorvik.com has UConn as a 5.5-point favorite and gives the Gamecocks a 29% chance of winning. And it goes beyond the analytics: All six ESPN pundits selected UConn to beat South Carolina in the website’s Final Four preview.
Despite all the outside noise seemingly favoring the Huskies, South Carolina doesn’t see itself as an underdog.
“I don’t really hear that stuff,” USC guard Raven Johnson said. “I try to stay off social media, especially Twitter, because that app is very toxic. I don’t think the team’s looking at us as an underdog. We are just being ready for the moment.”
UConn ‘in our way’ to national title, Johnson says
Some of the reason for the underdog narrative is likely due to what happened the last time South Carolina and UConn played each other. Friday’s Final Four matchup is a rematch of the 2025 national championship game in Tampa.
UConn dashed South Carolina’s hopes of winning back-to-back titles with an 82-59 shellacking of the Gamecocks. The win gave UConn and legendary coach Geno Auriemma their first national championship since 2016.
Despite that, Johnson said South Carolina isn’t coming into this year’s matchup vs. UConn with a chip on its shoulder.
“We have one goal, that’s to get to the national championship,” Johnson said. “They’re in our way of getting to the national championship. I think that’s how we’re thinking of it. It won’t matter if they were UConn or if they were Benedict (College). It don’t matter. They’re in our way.”
Dauda did say she and her teammates are eager to prove they’re a different team than the one that lost to UConn twice last season. While the team in general isn’t adopting an underdog mindset, Dauda admitted she is personally.
“I just feel like everything I’ve seen on social media, which is not something I should be looking at, everybody has picked us to lose this game,” Dauda said. “They’re undefeated, but we’re a great team. They’re a great team, too.”
“It’s going to be a good matchup, and it’s not gonna be an easy game. ... I would definitely pick our team over any other team that we’re playing against.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 3:45 PM.
