Yahoo Sports No. 1 South Carolina WBB vs NC State in Final Four: How to watch, top storylines
It’s time for the Final Four.
The No. 1 South Carolina women’s basketball team and coach Dawn Staley are in the national semifinals for a fourth straight season and will play No. 3 seed N.C. State on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN) with a spot in Sunday’s national title game on the line. No. 1 Iowa and transcendent guard Caitlin Clark will play No. 3 UConn later Friday night in the other national semifinal.
Here’s how to watch the Gamecocks, and what to know.
South Carolina WBB vs. NC State game info
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (36-0) vs. No. 3 NC State (31-6)
Where: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio
When: 7 p.m. Friday
TV: ESPN (Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe)
Radio: 107.5 FM in Columbia area (see full list of affiliates here)
Point spread: South Carolina by 11.5 points (ESPN BET)
Next up: The winner of South Carolina-N.C. State advances to the 2024 national championship game and will play either No. 1 Iowa or No. 3 UConn on Sunday afternoon in Cleveland
‘Nothing frightens’ the Gamecocks
The undefeated Gamecocks were widely expected to advance out of the Albany 1 Regional and into the Final Four. They took care of business, but it didn’t come without some tense moments.
USC beat No. 4 seed Indiana in the Sweet 16 by four points and beat No. 3 Oregon in the Elite Eight by 12 points. That combined point differential of plus-16 stands out like a sore thumb in comparison with the previous weekend, when South Carolina blitzed No. 16 Presbyterian and No. 8 North Carolina by a combined 99 points at Colonial Life Arena.
The Gamecocks’ competition, of course, was far better in Albany than it was in Columbia. But it wasn’t like South Carolina lacked control in its games at MVP Arena. The Gamecocks in the third quarters led Indiana by 22 points and Oregon State by 14.
The team’s tendency to let its foot off the gas while up big — which almost cost USC in the SEC Tournament semifinals against Tennessee, too — is a chief concern for Staley heading into Friday’s semifinal against the Wolfpack.
But she’s also proud of her team’s response in both of those games, closing out Indiana and Oregon State (neither of whom ever led USC in the second half despite their comebacks).
“Nothing frightens them,” Staley said of her team. “Nothing. But I will say that I’m hoping it’s part of our preparation and practice. We try to put them in the worst possible situations and allow them to figure out how to fight to get out of them.
“If you do enough of them, when it’s time to play, they’re just playing off of habit and not playing off emotions or runs that someone may have on us. They just stay present in what needs to take place at the moment.”
NC State says ‘Why not us?’
Wolfpack coach Wes Moore said his team has overcome “a lot of doubters” to reach the second Final Four in program history and first since 1998.
That’s often an overused phrase in sports. But it fits for N.C. State, which enters the weekend as one of just eight teams in Division I women’s basketball history to start a season unranked and reach a Final Four the same season. (Funny enough, that was also the case in 1998.)
The Wolfpack was selected as the No. 3 seed in the Portland 4 Regional after going 27-6 and finishing as the runner-up to Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament.
They’re 4-0 since, toppling No. 14 Chattanooga and No. 6 Tennessee on their home court before pulling off back-to-back neutral court upsets against the top two seeds in their region in Portland. The Wolfpack beat No. 2 Stanford (a trendy title pick) as a 4.5-point underdog in the Sweet 16 and No. 1 Texas in the Elite Eight as a 5.5-point underdog.
Why not keep it going?
“It’s been a fun ride,” Moore said. “I think that’s the biggest message I’ve been giving ’em. I think they felt it, too. We don’t want it to end. We’re enjoying the season, having fun together on the court, off the court. Just want to keep riding.”
South Carolina vs. NC State game notes
USC is 12-20 all-time against N.C. State but 4-2 against the Wolfpack in the Staley era. The teams most recently played in 2022 (No. 1 USC beat No. 5 N.C. State in Raleigh), and N.C. State was the last team to beat South Carolina on its home court in 2020.
South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso (who just formally declared for the WNBA Draft) was named the Albany 1 Regional Most Outstanding Player after averaging 17 points per game on 64% shooting in two wins.
Gamecocks starting point guard Raven Johnson was also an all-region selection after averaging 8.5 points and 6 assists per game with a number of clutch shots.
N.C. State is 4-18 all-time against No. 1 ranked teams, but the Wolfpack is a solid 3-5 all time against NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds.
With a win, the Wolfpack would secure the first championship game berth in program history and set a new single-season record for wins with 32.
