Meet the Opponent: No. 1 Overall Seed South Carolina Enters Indiana Matchup Undefeated

South Carolina has been the most dominant team in women’s college basketball this season, carrying an undefeated record into the Sweet 16 against No. 4 seed Indiana on Friday. Here’s a full breakdown of the Gamecocks.

Author:
Jack Ankony
Mar 28, 2024

In this story:

South Carolina

MiLaysia Fulwiley

Kamilla Cardoso

NCAA Tournament

South Carolina Women's Basketball

Dawn Staley

Indiana Hoosiers

Indiana Women's Basketball

Teri Moren

Mackenzie Holmes

Te-Hina Paopao

Indiana advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons under coach Teri Moren with a 75-68 win over No. 5 seed Oklahoma on Monday night.

The Hoosiers earned the luxury of home court advantage at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for their first two NCAA Tournament games, but the challenge becomes immense moving forward. Indiana is set to play the undefeated No. 1 overall seed South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday at 5 p.m. EDT on ESPN at MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y.

Coach Dawn Staley has built South Carolina into one of the premier programs in women’s college basketball over the last decade. The Gamecocks have lost just nine games in the last five seasons, a stretch in which they’ve earned four No. 1 seeds and would have had a fifth if the 2020 NCAA Tournament wasn’t canceled. South Carolina won national championships in 2017 and 2022 and has made five Final Four runs since 2015.

Here’s a full breakdown of South Carolina.

Leading scorers

C Kamilla Cardoso: 13.9 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.6 bpg, 58.4 FG%
G MiLaysia Fulwiley: 12.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.2 apg, 35.2 3pt FG%
G Te-Hina Paopao: 11.2 ppg, 3.8 apg, 2.7 rpg, 47.6 3pt FG%
F Ashlyn Watkins: 9.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 55.9 FG%
F Chloe Kitts: 9.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 55.4 FG%
G Bree Hall: 9.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 apg 39.3 3pt FG%
G Raven Johnson: 8.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.8 apg, 2.1 spg, 32.3 3pt FG%
F Sania Feagin: 6.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 55.9 FG%
G Tessa Johnson: 5.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 43.3 3pt FG%
C Sakima Walker: 2.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 51.2 FG%

Schedule

W, 100-71 vs. Notre Dame (neutral site)
W, 114-76 vs. Maryland
W, 109-40 vs. Clemson
W, 78-38 vs. South Dakota State
W, 101-19 vs. Mississippi Valley State
W, 65-58 at North Carolina
W, 77-61 at Duke
W, 104-38 vs. Morgan State
W, 78-69 vs. Utah (neutral site)
W, 99-29 vs. Presbyterian
W, 93-62 at Bowling Green
W, 73-36 at East Carolina
W, 89-66 at Florida
W, 85-66 vs Mississippi State
W, 81-57 at Missouri
W, 98-36 vs. Kentucky
W, 99-64 at Texas A&M
W, 76-70 at LSU
W, 91-74 vs. Vanderbilt
W, 76-55 at Auburn
W, 85-56 vs. Ole Miss
W. 83-45 vs. Missouri
W, 83-65 vs. UConn
W, 66-55 at Tennessee
W, 70-56 vs. Georgia
W, 72-44 vs. Alabama
W, 103-55 at Kentucky
W, 98-61 at Arkansas
W, 76-68 vs. Tennessee
W, 79-68 vs. Texas A&M (SEC Tournament)
W, 74-73 vs. Tennessee (SEC Tournament)
W, 79-72 vs. LSU (SEC Tournament)
W, 91-39 vs. Presbyterian (NCAA Tournament)
W, 88-41 vs. North Carolina (NCAA Tournament)

Strengths

South Carolina is anchored by 6-foot-7 senior center Kamilla Cardoso, a second-team AP All-American. She shoots an efficient 58.4% from the field and is dominant in the paint, averaging 9.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. Cardoso isn’t the only interior force, as 6-foot-3 sophomore Ashlyn Watkins provides a similar skillset, averaging 9.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

What makes South Carolina truly elite is its depth. Staley’s team includes seven players averaging at least eight points, and a 10-player rotation most games keeps everyone fresh. South Carolina’s second-leading scorer, freshman guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, comes off the bench and averages 12.2 points in just 18.9 minutes per game. She led the Gamecocks with 24 points in just 17 minutes in the SEC Tournament title game against LSU.

On the perimeter, senior guard Te-Hina Paopao leads the NCAA with 47.6% 3-point shooting. She’s off to a strong start in the NCAA Tournament, making 6-of-11 3-point attempts in two blowout wins. As a team, South Carolina ranks in the top five nationally in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, bench points, field goal percentage defense, scoring margin, rebounding margin and blocks per game.

Weaknesses

South Carolina has no major weaknesses at 34-0. The Gamecocks routinely beat teams by 20-plus points and even won seven games by 40 or more.

So let’s take a look at some of their closer contests, namely a three-game stretch in the SEC Tournament where each game was decided by single digits. In the quarterfinal win over Texas A&M, South Carolina committed 22 turnovers, its second most all season. While they shot an efficient 50% from 3-point range, only four made 3-pointers is tied for fourth fewest on the season.

The next game, South Carolina escaped with a one-point win over Tennessee after Cardoso banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer, the first made three of her career and just her second attempt. The Gamecocks shot just 40% from the field, their fourth lowest of the season, and made 2-of-9 3-point attempts, their third worst from both a volume and percentage standpoint. The Gamecocks played another close game by their standards in the SEC title game, a 79-72 win over LSU. They shot 43.1% from the field and 35% from three, both of which rank in the bottom third of games all year.

South Carolina seemed to shake some of those struggles off with 40-plus point wins over Presbyterian and North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. If the Hoosiers have any chance as 16.5-point underdogs, they’ll have to force turnovers, hit plenty of threes, force the Gamecocks into tough shots and hope they have an off night shooting the ball.

Season outlook

South Carolina, the No. 1 overall seed, is the heavy favorite to win the national championship at minus-155 odds. Iowa has the next best odds at plus-750, per FanDuel. Should the Gamecocks do so, it would be their third national championship and sixth Final Four since 2015.