The South Carolina Gamecocks will play for their fourth NCAA national championship under head coach Dawn Staley, having just upset the No. 1-overall seed UConn Huskies in the Final Four. And while the Gamecocks look a little different this season than they have in years past, there’s no question that Staley has once again assembled a title-worthy roster that’s peaking at the right time.
The atmosphere in the arena may have been sullied by the postgame antics of UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, but it ultimately took nothing away from the fact that South Carolina had thoroughly outplayed the best team in the country. It wasn’t the prettiest basketball game ever played (the two teams combined to shoot just 34.2 percent from the field), but as things wore on, South Carolina seemed to gain composure and confidence while UConn unraveled—a stark contrast to last year’s national championship game, when the Huskies defeated the Gamecocks without much issue.
You can bet the lessons learned from last year’s tournament had been fresh in Staley’s mind as her team embarked on their most recent journey, and while the Gamecocks did end up getting revenge against their rivals, one task still remains. South Carolina will face the UCLA Bruins in the 2026 NCAA title game, and they’ll have to dig deep one more time to achieve their biggest goal.
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The Gamecocks’ guards set the tone
If there’s been one common theme among the championship-winning Gamecock teams of seasons past, it’s that they all had elite frontcourt play. From A’ja Wilson and Alaina Coates to Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina has never lacked for size, and that remains true in 2026; multi-talented forward Joyce Edwards is one of the nation’s best sophomores, and Madina Okot brings the rebounding and shot-blocking one would expect from a 6-foot-6 center.
The heart and soul of this South Carolina team, though, lies in its backcourt. A trio of guards, each with their own special set of strengths, drives the Gamecocks’ success, and the chemistry established between them has been key in South Carolina getting hot when it matters most.
At point guard, Raven Johnson is South Carolina’s heartbeat. Now in her fifth collegiate season, she’s a veteran of the program, though her role is much larger than it was when she won a championship with the team in 2024. Johnson has always been known for her defense, and she’s gotten even better on that end of the floor, defending nearly every possession with intensity and effort. It’s her offense that has taken a step forward; once a reluctant shooter, she’s been much more efficient from the field, shooting 49.4 percent (41.4 on 3-pointers). Johnson’s playmaking has also been excellent; her 3.26 assist/turnover ratio ranks No. 4 among all Division I players.
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Then there’s the new kid on the block: Ta’Niya Latson. Formerly the nation’s leading scorer, Latson transferred from Florida State to South Carolina to improve her game and her chances at winning a championship, and it’s safe to say both goals have been met. Latson, too, has been an efficient scorer at 49 percent shooting, and though she hasn’t needed to shoot the ball nearly as often as she did with the Seminoles, her passing as the team’s secondary playmaker has kept Johnson’s workload from being too heavy, and she remains one of the deadliest guards in the nation at creating shots off the dribble.
Last but certainly not least, Tessa Johnson provides an important element that every good team needs: 3-point shooting. She’s shooting 45.2 percent on 5.4 threes per game, a crucial skill to complement Latson’s dribble penetration and the Gamecocks’ team-wide strength of offensive rebounding. She can defend, too; Raven Johnson may be the head of the snake and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, but it was Tessa’s ball denial that made life miserable for Azzi Fudd and UConn’s other off-ball players in their recent Final Four matchup.
How South Carolina can defeat UCLA
South Carolina now looks forward to UCLA, a fellow No. 1-seed who, like the Gamecocks, is loaded with talent. At 36-1, the Bruins are not to be taken lightly, and they present a couple of unique challenges that the Gamecocks haven’t had to deal with until now.
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The first is, obviously, Lauren Betts. At 6-foot-7, Betts towers over her competition in the paint, and she’s not just a big body—she’s skilled, too. Betts possesses post moves and short-range jump shots that punish single coverage and good enough passing chops to take advantage of double teams. Betts has been downright unstoppable in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 22.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting just over 70 percent from the floor.
While it goes without saying that Okot and Edwards will need to be at their most disciplined against Betts, one could argue that the play of South Carolina’s guards will be just as important. UCLA is comfortable asking Betts to defend on the perimeter in certain situations, and those are situations the Gamecocks’ guards will need to take advantage of. They won’t necessarily have to get Betts into foul trouble to neutralize her; pushing the tempo and keeping UCLA’s defense from getting set would be meaningful enough.
Similarly, South Carolina’s perimeter defense will once again need to be on point against UCLA’s vast number of scoring threats. Raven Johnson will have her hands full with Kiki Rice, who is a strong, physical downhill attacker. Gianna Kneepkens and Gabriela Jaquez, meanwhile, are both excellent jumpshooters who will make the Gamecocks pay if they’re left alone; Jaquez, in particular, never stops moving without the basketball, so whichever South Carolina guard gets the assignment on her will need to keep up.
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As a team, the Gamecocks will need to rely on what got them to this point: defense and rebounding. It takes a special kind of defensive culture to hold UConn to 48 points as the Gamecocks did in the Final Four, and it’s something they’ve been doing all season long; according to Her Hoop Stats, South Carolina is allowing 77.9 points per 100 possessions, the fifth-lowest mark in Division I. They’ll just have to lock in one last time, and the glory will be theirs.
