NCAAW: South Carolina goes for 3rd title in four seasons against UConn

The 2025 NCAA Division I women’s basketball national championship will be a revenge game.

And you can pick your preferred flavor of revenge. It is a rematch of the 2022 national championship game, when South Carolina captured the program’s second national title over UConn, 64-49. Or, it’s a rematch of the Feb. 16 game in Columbia, when the Huskies snapped the Gamecocks’ 71-game home winning streak in dominant fashion, 87-58.

For our purposes here, we’ll emphasize the latter scenario in preparation for Sunday afternoon’s championship showdown (3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN) between the No. 1-seed South Carolina Gamecocks and No. 2-seed UConn Huskies, focusing on what the Gamecocks must do not only to avenge their streak-snapping loss but also to pull off a Husky-esque feat of winning a back-to-back and third-in-four-seasons national championship.

Here’s a look at how the Gamecocks stack up against the Huskies on both sides on ball on Sunday:

Defense: Solving the Paige problem

When UConn invaded Colonial Life Arena in February and stomped out South Carolina’s home winning streak, Paige Bueckers scored 12 points on 12 shot attempts, a 3-for-12 shooting performance well below her high-efficiency standard. Yet, she was the best player on the floor, the engine who unlocked a hot shooting and high scoring afternoon for the Huskies. She had 10 assists, setting up her teammates for open 3s and easy layups.

To make Bueckers a playmaker or a scorer? That is the unenviable question facing head coach Dawn Staley and her staff. Playmaker Paige sliced and diced the Gamecocks in February. Scorer Paige has spurred the Huskies’ dominant NCAA Tournament run. Expect Staley to opt for both and neither, throwing different looks at Bueckers in effort to prevent her from establishing a comfort zone.

While that’s (much) easier said than done, Staley has the players up for the task, headlined by Raven Johnson. Just one year ago, Johnson made the signature play of the national championship game, hounding Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, picking her pocket and sprinting away for a layup. Johnson, a two-time national champion seeking her third, will be undaunted by facing a favored player on the biggest stage.

Bree Hall, another top-notch defender who likewise can win her third national title on Sunday, can also assume the challenge, while Sania Feagin, the third Gamecock who can add a third title to her resume, will likely be responsible for tussling with Bueckers’ precocious post partner, Sarah Strong.

Those three multi-time champs are the players Staley believes deserve more shine and celebration for their accomplishments, which she emphasized during Saturday’s press conference, saying, “[W]e tend to forget the narrative about what our kids have been able to do, going for their third in four years,” contrasting the mainstream coverage South Carolina has (or has not) received to that of Bueckers and the UConn, as their title quest has become the sport’s central narrative. Staley stressed that the spotlight is bright enough for all players and teams.

Do the gritty, unglamorous work of locking down the high-flying Huskies and Johnson, Hall, Feagin and the rest of the Gamecocks will be basking in the glare of glory, their greatness unable to be ignored.

Offense: Finding the firepower

In their Final Four game against Texas on Friday, Staley often had South Carolina’s post players initiate their offense, with Feagin and Joyce Edwards aggressively attacking Texas’ bigs in isolation. It was a smart strategy that effectively targeted a weak point of the elite Longhorn defense, exploiting players who are uncomfortable away from the basket with the athleticism and agility of Feagin and Edwards.

What does Staley have up her (Louis Vuitton or Gucci) sleeves against the Huskies? Most likely something different, as the small-ball Huskies, anchored by a mobile Strong, are less likely to be troubled by offensive actions that use South Carolina’s bigs as primary creators.

But something that needs to be the same is Te-Hina Paopao’s aggression from behind the arc. She was 3-for-4 from deep in the Final Four and she fired them off with no hesitation, with the swiftness of her 3-point shot attempts being almost important as whether she made or missed. Paopao shooting quickly will keep a defender by her side, thus opening more space in the offensive halfcourt for her teammates. Or, she will demand a rushed close out when she receives a pass, which she can take advantage of with a drive to the basket, a skill she has improved upon in her final season in a South Carolina jersey. Her shooting and scoring ability, combined with the ever-confident shotmaking of MiLaysia Fulwiley, are musts for the Gamecock offense, regardless of the other strategic wrinkles Staley is sure to implement.

South Carolina’s offense has waxed and waned over the course of the season, as well as through the NCAA Tournament. Yet, when firing on all cylinders, the Gamecocks’ athleticism, skill, audacity and effort can overwhelm the most disciplined defenses—even UConn’s. Considering the talent and motivation of the Huskies, it may seem unwise to assume that the Gamecocks can find that gear consistently enough on Sunday. Yet, it seems equally crazy to think that they won’t.

Some way, somehow South Carolina does what needs to be done to win games. That’s greatness. And it expect to see them show it on Sunday afternoon.