Gamecock Set for Third-Straight NCAA Championship Game Sunday

Gamecock Notables

• Head coach Dawn Staley is fifth all-time in NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.771). She has led the Gamecocks to their third-straight national championship game, matching the second-longest streak in tournament history.

• Sunday’s game will be the Gamecocks’ 19th this season against a ranked opponent, matching the 2024-25 team’s program record. Their 15 ranked wins already matches that team’s success against the nation’s best.

• South Carolina’s defense is holding opponents to just 52.6 points per game in this NCAA Tournament. In their three wins over ranked foes at the event, it yielded just 56.0 points per outing.

• The Gamecocks have thrived after halftime this postseason, out-scoring opponents by an average of 8.3 points in the period to highlight a +13.9 scoring margin in the second half.

• All-American forward Joyce Edwards has been strong on the glass in the NCAA Tournament, grabbing 9.4 boards per outing over the last five games, including a pair of double-doubles.

• Senior Ta’Niya Latson joined the Gamecocks to play on the biggest stage in college basketball, and she has thrived in the spotlight. She averages 15.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and a team-high 4.2 assists in the NCAA Tournament.

• Senior Raven Johnson is 20-2 in the NCAA Tournament across the last four seasons with her 22 games tied for the most played by a Gamecock at the event. She holds program records for assists (72) and steals (37) in career NCAA Tournament games.

• Playing just 20.4 minutes per NCAA Tournament game, senior center Madina Okot still averages a double-double at the event with 10.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per outing. She is shooting 61.8 percent from the field.

• Junior Tessa Johnson has been doing it all in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists over the last three weekends. She is shooting 52.3 percent from the field and 55.0 from 3-point range.

• Freshman Agot Makeer has had no fear in her debut NCAA Tournament, ranking third on the team with 14.6 points per game on 55.6 percent shooting, including 45.5 percent from 3-point range.

By the Numbers
4 – Madina Okot is four  offensive rebounds away from tying the program single-season record.

5 – The Gamecocks are playing in their fifth NCAA championship game, fourth in the last five years.

The UCLA Series
The Gamecocks are 4-2 all-time against UCLA with a 4-1 mark in the Staley era (beginning 2008-09 season). One of those meetings was in the NCAA Tournament with South Carolina winning 59-43 on Mar. 25, 2023, in the Sweet 16.

UCLA won the most recent meeting between the two, handing Staley her first loss in the series with a 77-62 victory on Nov. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. The Bruins shot lights out in the first half to take a 43-22 lead into the break.

Ranked Readings
Against ranked teams, South Carolina is 147-74 (.665) in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), and even that mark is skewed by the early seasons of her tenure. Since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the Gamecocks are 132-35 (.790) against ranked teams, including a 62-8 (.885) mark since the start of the 2021-22 season. The Gamecocks are 130-25 (.839) under Staley when ranked higher/better than their opponent.

This season, South Carolina is 15-3 against ranked opponents, including a 7-2 mark against top-10 foes. The Gamecocks are 5-0 against ranked teams at home, 4-1 on the road and 6-2 at neutral sites.

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Tournament Talk
South Carolina is in its 22nd NCAA Tournament and its 14th straight under head coach Dawn Staley. The Gamecocks are 60-18 (.769) overall in the event, giving them the third-best winning percentage in tournament history. This season marks their third-straight appearance in the National Championship game – the second-longest streak in tournament history – and their fourth in the last five tournaments.  South Carolina is 3-1 in NCAA title games.

The Gamecocks have been a regional No. 1 seed 10 times, including three seasons as the overall No. 1 seed (2022, 2023, 2024). They are 44-6 (.880) as a No. 1 seed.

In her 26th season as a head coach, Staley has taken a team to the NCAA Tournament 20 times with a 54-16 (.771), ranking third among active coaches and fifth all-time in winning percentage at the event. At South Carolina, she is 52-10 (.839), including a 26-2 (.929) mark since 2022.

In the first two rounds of this tournament, South Carolina set several program NCAA Tournament highs – +69 margin of victory, 24 assists and 39 defensive rebounds (tied) against Southern; 17 steals vs. Southern Cal and .714 3-point percentage against Oklahoma. Ta’Niya Latson’s 28 points against Oklahoma were the third-most by a Gamecock in an NCAA Tournament game and the most since Aliyah Boston netted 28 against North Carolina on March 25, 2022. Her perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line in that game and against UConn matched to program’s NCAA Tournament record.

This, That and the Third
In its most critical games – against ranked opponents and the postseason – South Carolina has created the most separation in the third quarter. In 18 games against ranked foes, the Gamecocks have a +5.7 scoring margin in the third period, and that number rises to +8.3 in postseason action.

The defense makes the difference in the third, holding opponents to just 33.1 percent shooting in that quarter in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. The offense is actually most efficient in the fourth period with the Gamecocks shooting 55.8 percent in the fourth in postseason action.

Efficiency Report
A focus for South Carolina is efficiency – creating its own and disrupting its opponents’. They are among the best in the nation at both – ranking fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (.505) and sixth field goal percentage defense (.346). The Gamecocks lead the nation in offensive points per possession (1.229) and are second in defensive points per possession (0.712), per Synergy.

Individually, three Gamecocks are among the SEC’s top 10 percentage shooters. Madina Okot leads the group at 58.1 percent, which ranks top-20 in the nation, and Joyce Edwards’ 57.6 percent ranks in the nation’s top 25. Ta’Niya Latson’s career-best 49.0 percent accuracy rounds out the trio of SEC leaders at eighth in the league.

From 3-point range, the Gamecocks are fourth in the country with a .376 percentage and set the program record for 3-point accuracy in a game when they hit 71.4 percent (10-of-14) against #10/9 Oklahoma in the NCAA Sweet 16 (Mar. 28). Tessa Johnson is sixth in the nation with her SEC-best 45.2 percent accuracy, including a 45.5 mark against ranked opponents. Her 2.4 made 3s per game include seven games of at least four 3s.