TAMPA, Fla. — South Carolina women's basketball is one win away from repeating as national champions.
The No. 1 seed Gamecocks (35-3) face No. 2 seed UConn on Sunday (3 p.m., ABC) in Amalie Arena. The Huskies won 87-58 on the Gamecocks' home court in February.
As South Carolina and coach Dawn Staley seek revenge, so do the Huskies (36-3), who lost in the 2022 championship, making Staley the only coach to ever beat Geno Auriemma in a title game.
"We were embarrassed," South Carolina forward Chloe Kitts said. "We were outhustled, every one of them outworked us."
Staley said she isn't thinking of Sunday's game in a "get back" at UConn way.
"It's our standard that we really just try to apply every day we're out there as a team," Staley said. "To understand what our standard is individually and collectively and the 'get back' will be within that. If we're able to play within our standards and habits, things will take care of themselves."
The 29-point loss was South Carolina's largest since a 32-point loss to Georgia in the 2011 SEC Tournament and tied for fifth in the Gamecocks' biggest losses under Staley.
South Carolina's Te-Hina Paopao was particularly critical of her own performance, saying that she wasn't a leader for her teammates, despite scoring 10 points.
Paopao said she let her team down and wanted to be better in every way, but specifically mentioned her defense both on and off the ball.
Much of UConn's success came from behind the 3-point line (13-of-28) and in transition, feeding off of misses from South Carolina. Paopao wasn't the only defender who didn't have their best day, as most of the Gamecocks failed to halt the magic of the Huskies' offense.
UConn guard Azzi Fudd finished with 28 points on 6-of-10 shooting from behind the arc, something that can't be repeated on ...
