Oklahoma Hoping to Find Magic One More Time Against Top-Seeded South Carolina

Oklahoma enters Saturday in rare air.

Not often does a team enter a rematch with South Carolina having notched a win earlier in the season, but the Sooners have just that.

Ahead of Saturday’s Sweet 16 battle between the top-seeded Gamecocks and 4-seed OU, it was Jennie Baracznyk’s team that came out on top 94-82 in overtime when the teams met in January.

Aaliyah Chavez caught fire in overtime, draining four shots from deep, and OU got the signature win of the Baranczyk era.

Oklahoma Sooners, Aaliyah Chave — Oklahoma freshman Aaliyah Chavez celebrates after making a basket and drawing a foul in the Sooners' regular-season win over South Carolina. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

South Carolina played in a revenge game against Texas in the SEC Tournament — a contest the Gamecocks lost — but legendary coach Dawn Staley said her team has bigger things on the mind on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN).

“We're not motivated by, we're avenging a loss,” Staley said on Friday. “We're motivated by advancing. It's not like, ‘Oh, they beat us last time, let us do this or that.’ It's survive and advance.”

The Sooners know they’ll get a different South Caroline team in Sacramento.

How to Watch 4-seed Oklahoma vs. 1-seed South Carolina

When: Saturday, March 28
Where: Golden1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 4 p.m.
Channel: ESPN

“I think we played okay,” Baranczyk said. I think we had some moments that we played really well in that game. I think we had moments that we didn't.

“Do I think they played their A-game? Probably not. So you still have to be ready. And I don't know if that helps you or hurts you, but at the end of the day, it's a basketball game. It's in the Sweet 16, and the margin of error is really, really small. And at least we go in knowing that. And we better be ready.”

Chavez led all scorers with 26 points back in January. She hit half of her 10 attempts from deep and added eight assists and four rebounds while committing four turnovers.

The Gamecocks also struggled to keep All-American center Raegan Beers off the glass.

She chipped in 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds. Payton Verhulst also scored 19 points and added four rebounds and four assists. Sahara Williams scored 12 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and Zya Vann finished the night with 11 points.

Oklahoma Sooners, Raegan Beer — Oklahoma's Raegan Beers scores a basket over South Carolina 's Madina Okot in the Sooners' regular-season victory over the Gamecocks. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

That doesn’t mean South Carolina will completely rip its game plan to shreds, however.

“I don't think we tweak from what we didn't do the last time,” Staley said. “I think we tweak from where we want to play in a tournament and the things that we need to do to stay organized.”

South Carolina guard Tessa Johnson did get off to a hot start in the season’s first meeting.

She scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, but picked up her second foul of the game midway through the first quarter. Johnson had to head to the bench and it disrupted her rhythm, as she finished with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting.

Johnson is just one of the Gamecocks’ weapons.

She’s fourth on the team in scoring behind Joyce Edwards (19.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game), Ta’Niya Latson (14.3 points per game) and Madina Okot (13.5 points and 10.9 rebounds per game).

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“They're a really, really good team, and each time we've played them, it's definitely been a different type of game,” OU’s Williams said. “But I think having experience — experience is your best teacher. You never really know until you play. You never really know how it feels until you're under the lights in the big moments.”

A win would advance the Sooners to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010, but a loss would see the OU careers of Beers, Verhulst and Beatrice Culliton come to an end.

“This team has just grown and grown and grown and grown, and even from the first time that I played them last year,” Williams said. “… I'm just excited to see how much that we've grown, and I know they're a different team. They've had to scout us and we've had to scout them. But I'm just excited to see how much, like, we've really, really grown.”