The Gamecocks huddle as the Maryland Terrapins line up for a free throw during the second half of action at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham on Friday, March 28, 2025 in the Birmingham 2 regional of the NCAA Tournament. Tracy Glantz [email protected]

BIRMINGHAM, ALA.

A trip to the Final Four will be on the line when South Carolina and Duke takes the floor at Legacy Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The No. 1 seed Gamecocks will have to go through No. 2 seed Duke if they want to advance to Tampa. Duke beat No. 3 seed North Carolina on Friday to advance to the Elite Eight.

South Carolina is 6-1 in Elite Eight games and is 8-2 all-time against Duke, including a 7-1 mark under Dawn Staley.

South Carolina vs Duke TV info

Who: No. 1 South Carolina (33-3) vs. No. 2 Duke (29-7)

Where: Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

When: 1 p.m. ET Sunday

TV: ABC

Radio: 107.5 FM locally (see full list of affiliates here)

Stream: Via watchespn.com or the ESPN app

Betting line: South Carolina by 7.5 points

Another rematch for the Gamecocks

South Carolina has had a rematch with three teams this year: Texas (three times), Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. Sunday, the Gamecocks will add Duke to that list.

Duke and South Carolina played in Columbia in early December. The Gamecocks won 81-70 and were fueled by a 21 point, 11 rebound performance from Chloe Kitts.

“I remember we had a lead and we gave it up,” Kitts said of the early season matchup. “They shot big shots, and they have good bench production. So we need to be ready for anybody to come into the game and make a difference.”

Duke has caught fire in recent weeks and has won its past eight games, including a win over N.C. State in the ACC Tournament championship game.

“Their defense has been pretty stingy,” USC coach Dawn Staley said. “They’ve disrupted. They’ve created offense from their defense. They do a really good job at hitting timely shots. They got down by 11 yesterday and fought their way back.”

Kitts said the Gamecocks can only draw so much on their experiences this season preparing for a rematch.

“This is different, I mean this is win or go home,” Kitts said. “Of course, you want to win or whatever. Those were win or go home it was the SEC Tournament, but this is different. Like you literally go home. We don’t want to go home.”

What’s at stake

South Carolina is looking to punch its ticket to a fifth consecutive Final Four.

All but three players on South Carolina’s roster have yet to make a Final Four in their careers; Maddy McDaniel, Maryam Dauda and Joyce Edwards.

Meanwhile, Duke has a chance to make the Final Four for the first time since 2006. That year, the Blue Devils were a No. 1 seed and beat LSU in the Final Four before losing to Maryland in the national championship game.

Duke sophomore Oluchi Okananwa said it’s been special to help try and take Duke back to championship contention with her fellow sophomores.

“I think we have discussed how special our class is amongst us, since last year,” Okananwa said. ”The four of us all coming in … we didn’t care how young we were. We didn’t care that we were freshmen. We were just bright-eyed and hungry and truly we feel like that’s enough and clearly it’s been shown that it is.”

Staley and Lawson

Both Staley and Lawson enjoyed extensive playing careers before making their way to coaching.

Staley was an All-American at Virginia before going pro. She had a eight-year stint in the WNBA and was a five-time WNBA All-Star. Staley has been a head coach at the college level since 2000.

Lawson was a standout under Pat Summitt at Tennessee and was the No. 5 pick in the 2003 WNBA Draft. She played 13 seasons in the WNBA before making the jump to coaching in 2019 as an assistant with the Boston Celtics.

Lawson said the two have crossed paths the most in the world of USA Basketball.

Staley described the relationship between her and Lawson as “one of respect”.

“I respect the success that Kara is having at Duke,” Staley said. “I respect the fact that she has been in our game for a long time at different stops. … For someone that has devoted and served our game as long as she has, you gotta tip your hat to her.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 1:12 PM.