SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When South Carolina women’s basketball popped up in the Sacramento 4 Regional on Selection Sunday, it meant a little bit more to assistant coach Wendale Farrow.
Farrow gets to coach in his first Women’s NCAA Tournament with the No. 1 seed Gamecocks (33-3) 15 minutes away from where he grew up.
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“Once it got announced, I was pretty excited,” Farrow said. “I look forward to my family showing up, my friends showing up. Obviously Sacramento has a rich basketball history, going back to when the Kings were good, obviously the Monarchs, so hopefully they’ll pack that gym and usually Sacramento fans are loud.”
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley hired Farrow from Southern Cal last spring.
Farrow grew up in North Highlands, a neighborhood in Sacramento that’s roughly 15 miles from Golden 1 Center, where South Carolina is playing Oklahoma (26-7) in the Sweet 16 on March 28 (5 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Farrow spent the last 10 years coaching in California with five-year stints at both Cal and Southern Cal. For one season, he was an assistant at Vanderbilt under Melanie Balcomb in 2015-16, the farthest East he’d worked in the basketball world.
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He played college basketball at Eastern Michigan, graduating in 2009.
“When you grew up in Sacramento, you kind of know who the hoopers are, who the kids are that went on to college and became Division I players,” Farrow said. “I was one of those kids as well, and now following the lifeline of basketball, I just want to continue to produce good young people and good programs for Sacramento.”
On the basketball courts at Pacific Career & Technology High School, a young Farrow got his nickname “Showtime,” after his consistent 28-point performances as a sixth-grader.
“It was my best year ever in basketball and I feel like that was when I kind of finally arrived in my neighborhood, and people still remember that,” Farrow said.
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His focus is entirely on helping Staley reach a sixth straight Final Four appearance, which means going 2-0 in Sacramento. If the Gamecocks beat Oklahoma, they’ll move on to face the winner of TCU vs Virginia in the Elite Eight on March 30.
“I just hope that I can bridge my community with the South Carolina fans so we can come together and represent,” Farrow said.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dawn Staley assistant gets trip home for South Carolina Sweet 16 game
