National Championship Preview: UConn vs. South Carolina

This one's for all the marbles.

Author

Daniel Connolly
April 06, 2025

Photo: Ian Bethune

How to watch

Date: Sunday, April 6

Time: 3 p.m. ET

Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL

TV: ABC

Radio: UConn Sports Network (97.9 Fox Sports and affiliates)

1-seed South Carolina Gamecocks

Record: 35-3 (15-1 SEC)

Location: Columbia, South Carolina

Head coach: Dawn Staley (17th season)

Scouting the Gamecocks

Opponent preview: 1-seed South Carolina

A rematch with the Gamecocks stands between UConn and a long-elusive 12th national championship.

Statistical leaders

Points: 12.7 — Joyce Edwards
Rebounds: 7.8 — Chloe Kitts
Assists: 2.9 — Te-Hina Paopao
Steals: 1.5 — MiLaysia Fulwiley
3-point %: 42.7 — Tessa Johnson

Series history

UConn is 10-5 all-time against South Carolina and 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies won the first eight meetings — including the 2018 Elite Eight that ended the Gamecocks’ dreams of going back-to-back — but are just 2-5 since.

South Carolina beat an injury-depleted UConn team in the 2022 national championship game, part of a four-game winning streak for Dawn Staley’s side. The Huskies finally stopped that skid this past season with a stunning 87-58 win in Columbia back in February.

How they got here

South Carolina opened as the preseason No. 1 and won its first five games before getting blown out on the road by UCLA, 77-62. The Gamecocks later dropped their first SEC contest in a couple seasons to Texas then got beat by UConn two games later. South Carolina still won the SEC Tournament and earned the second 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks rolled through 16-seed Tennessee Tech 108-48 in the opener but then ran into some trouble. They got by 9-seed Indiana by a margin of 11 in the second round then fought their way through the Birmingham 2 Regional with a pair of four-point victories over Maryland and Duke. South Carolina then handled Texas with ease in the Final Four.

Meanwhile, the Huskies enter the national championship on a roll. They’ve won all five NCAA Tournament games by double-digits — including a historic 85-51 beatdown of UCLA on Friday, the largest Final Four victory in history.

By the numbers

4 — South Carolina is UConn’s fourth repeat opponent in the national championship. The Huskies previous faced Tennessee (4), Notre Dame (2) and Louisville (2) multiple times. They also went up against Oklahoma, Stanford and Syracuse.

2 — A defending national champion has fallen in the next championship game just twice previously: Louisiana Tech (1983) and Notre Dame (2019). Ironically, the latter happened in Tampa.

11 — Geno Auriemma is 11-1 in national championship games, though the one loss came to South Carolina in 2022.

1 — UConn has only won a national title as a 2-seed once (2004).

123 — Sunday’s national championship will be Paige Bueckers’ 123rd and final game with the Huskies.

4 — UConn’s win over UCLA was its first victory over the No. 1 team in the AP Poll since taking down South Carolina in February, 2021. The Huskies had lost their previous four matchups against the top-ranked team.

Final Four coverage

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