How to watch as No. 1 South Carolina WBB opens NCAA Tournament vs. Presbyterian

Chapel Fowler
·4 min read
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South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao (0) practices in advance of playing Presbyterian in the NCAA Tournament, first-round game at the Colonial Life Arena on Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024.
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March Madness is just about underway for South Carolina women’s basketball, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament bracket and odds-on title favorite.

The undefeated Gamecocks will open NCAA play on Friday afternoon against No. 16 seed Presbyterian College at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia (2 p.m., ESPN).

Here’s what you need to know.

South Carolina WBB vs. Presbyterian game info

  • Who: No. 1 South Carolina (32-0) vs. No. 16 Presbyterian (21-14)

  • Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC

  • When: 2 p.m. Friday

  • TV: ESPN (Courtney Lyle, Carolyn Peck)

  • Radio: 107.5 FM locally (see full list of affiliates here)

  • Stream: Via WatchESPN.com or the ESPN app

  • Next up: The winner of South Carolina-Presbyterian will play either No. 8 North Carolina or No. 9 Michigan State on Sunday (time and channel to be announced)

South Carolina has ‘a job to do’

Friday’s game presents some déjà vu for South Carolina. Just over three months ago, the Gamecocks breezed past Presbyterian, 99-29, on their home court. The 70-point margin of victory was their second largest of the season.

But coach Dawn Staley doesn’t want to see any complacency from USC. She knows the Blue Hose, who made the NCAA Tournament as the Big South conference champion and beat Sacred Heart in a First Four game on Wednesday, aren’t looking at things that way.

“They’re excited,” Staley said of 16 seed Presbyterian. “They’re not going to back down, which I like. But I mean, we’re home. We’ve got a job to do and got to play well and get off to a great start.”

USC has cruised past its first-round opponents in recent years. That hasn’t meant it’s all sunshine and roses, though. In last year’s first round game against No. 16 Norfolk State, Staley had to call a timeout with her team leading 24-12 in the second quarter and level with her players on a lack of intensity.

After a second-straight undefeated regular season and sweep of the SEC regular season and tournament titles, guard Bree Hall said South Carolina is refreshed and ready to go.

“The practices leading up to today have been good,” she said. “We’ve been very competitive. Lots of defense. Just getting back to how we’ve been playing. But Coach, like I said, has been on us and making sure that we’re perfecting the things we need to perfect.”

Presbyterian ‘playing our best basketball’

After getting into the tournament with an automatic bid, Presbyterian College — a private school with roughly 1,000 students located in Clinton, an hour from Columbia — survived its first test at Colonial Life Arena.

The Blue Hose defeated Sacred Heart, the NEC tournament champion, by seven points on Wednesday night to advance to Friday’s game versus USC. In a 49-42 win, guard Mara Neira (14 points) and center Bryanna Brady (12) scored in double figures while Presbyterian limited its opponent to just 24.5% shooting from the field.

PC has now won nine of its last 10 games.

“It’s not perfect all the time but we’ve gotten to be playing our best basketball at the right time,” coach Alaura Sharp said postgame. “There were some really lows in the season and some injuries and some different things. But they just kept being glued together and that’s why we’re here today.”

South Carolina vs. Presbyterian game notes

  • USC is the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed for the third season in a row and is one of the tournament’s four No. 1 seeds for the eighth time in the past 10 seasons.

  • Last week, South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley became the first freshman in program history to earn SEC Tournament MVP honors and the first for the conference since Tennessee’s Candace Parker in 2006.

  • South Carolina has faced 15 of the 68 teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament field (including three in its region). USC was 19-0 against those 15 teams and 11-0 against the other seven SEC teams in the field.

  • Wednesday marked Presbyterian’s first ever NCAA Tournament win and the fourth ever NCAA Tournament win by a Big South Conference team

  • Presbyterian won its 21st game of the season, extending a school record.