COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina has blown past plenty of teams in the past three seasons. North Carolina is not one of them.
The Tar Heels have faced the Gamecocks twice since 2022, including a Sweet 16 matchup in Greensboro, North Carolina, two years ago, and each time they gave coach Dawn Staley’s powerhouse team all it could handle.
No. 8 seed North Carolina (20-12) tries again Sunday when it faces top-seeded South Carolina (33-0) for a spot in the Sweet 16 next week.
The Tar Heels closed within four points in the third quarter of their 2022 NCAA Tournament matchup with the Gamecocks before losing 69-61. Last November in the ACC/SEC Challenge, North Carolina was up by 11 before South Carolina rallied for a 65-58 victory.
The defeats were disappointing, Alyssa Ustby said, but the Tar Heels learned from them as they worked toward a rematch.
“I think what makes this an awesome matchup is that neither team is going to back down, and you’re going to get a really good fight,” Ustby said. “Just the result of that on the scoreboard is going to be a close game.”
The Gamecocks remember too well trailing by 11 points at North Carolina before pulling it together and rallying.
“They were really aggressive and they came out swinging first,” South Carolina guard Te-Hina Paopao said. “That took us a while to adjust.
“We’ve got to come out with aggression” on Sunday, Paopao continued, “and be physical and just be who we are.”
North Carolina got a scare in its opening-round win over Michigan State. A 12-point lead with less than four minutes left shrank to 57-56 in the final seconds before the Tar Heels pulled out a 59-56 win.
Tar Heels coach Courtney Banghart knows her team can’t afford similar lapses on South Carolina’s home court.
“If you don’t bring your best against the best, they’re just going to blow you out,” Banghart said.
POINT GUARD CHANGES
Injuries have forced North Carolina into making changes at point guard. Three players, including starter Kayla McPherson, who faced the Gamecocks in November are unavailable. Deja Kelly, who began the season as a shooting guard, played point guard against Michigan State and will do so again on Sunday.
“The position that’s the hardest one to sort of lose is your point guard because you play to the personality of who has the ball in their hands a lot,” Banghart said.
CARDOSO’S RETURN
Kamilla Cardoso begins what could be her final NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-7 forward and Gamecocks leading scorer was suspended for South Carolina’s 91-39 first-round win over Presbyterian on Friday after getting ejected late in the Gamecock’s SEC Tournament championship win for pushing LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson to the ground.
The senior from Brazil had to watch the game from the locker room.
“I’m very excited to go out there with my teammates and just play the game and have fun,” Cardoso said Saturday.
Staley said another starter who missed the Presbyterian game, Bree Hall, will also be back in the lineup.
REMATCHES?
This will be South Carolina’s second NCAA Tournament game against an opponent it has already played this season. Staley often schedules programs that her team might see again.
The coach likes when she’s got a previous scouting report to work with.
“We can see how far they’ve improved. We can see some areas in which we can hopefully gain an advantage,” Staley said. “So it’s pretty cool.”
North Carolina’s Banghart does not agree, especially for the first two rounds.
“From a pure basketball standpoint, I think it was a miss,” she said. “I think for us to have an opportunity to play a Tennessee or, I don’t know who else is on one-seed lines or whatnot, but we played this game in November. This game has been played, right?”
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