In recent years, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks have become synonymous with excellence in women’s college basketball, with two national championships in the last three years and a commanding presence that includes a record-setting streak of home victories. However, on Sunday, the South Carolina dynasty took an unexpected blow.
In a game that was as much about old-school brilliance as it was about making a statement, No. 7 UConn stunned No. 4 South Carolina, snapping the Gamecocks’ 71-game home winning streak sending shock throughout the women’s basketball world.
The win marked Uconn’s largest road victory over a top-five team since 2009, when the Huskies crushed No.2 South Carolina. It also gave South Carolina its most lopsided home defeat since 2008, when a Geno Auriemma-led UConn team handed the Gamecocks a loss in Staley’s first season as head coach.
“I don’t know what was going to happen today, but I think we’re going to be a great NCAA tournament team,” Auriemma said. “This is in them, and it came out today. Can it come out every day? I don’t know, but now we know it’s in them.”
For South Carolina, the loss felt like a punch in the gut. The Gamecocks had last fallen at home in December 2020, but this time, the loss was more profound. Fans began leaving midway through the fourth quarter as the Gamecocks faced a near 30-point deficit. Staley herself called the performance a “major implosion”, while senior guard Te-Hina Paopao called it “embarrassing.”
“We got beat. We got beat badly,” Staley said. “There’s no silver lining to this one.”
UConns victory didn’t come easily, but it was comprehensive. After taking the lead late in the first quarter, the Huskies never looked back. They dominated in nearly every aspect of the game, opening up a commanding 45-23 lead by halftime- the largest halftime deficit South Carolina faced since the 2019 NCAA Sweet 16.
“We played to win,” Auriemma said. “It wasn’t, I hope we don’t lose. We needed to prove that to ourselves, that we could never let up for 40 minutes.”
A big part of UConn’s success was the stellar performance of redshirt junior Azzi Fudd, who is from Mclean, Virginia. Fudd Finished with a game-high of 28 points. Fudd exploded for 18 points in the third quarter alone and displayed a scorching 6-for-10 shooting performance from beyond the arc, helping to extend UConn’s lead and maintain their dominance.
“This was a big moment for her,” Auriemma said of Fudd, who missed most of last season due to an ACL injury. “She hasn’t been in this scenario in a long time, and for her to have the kind of game she did, this goes a long way towards pushing her forward.”
The Huskies’ three-point shooting, which had been inconsistent this season, was on fire. Uconn hit 13 of 28 attempts from beyond the arc, a stark contrast to their 26% shooting average against AP-ranked teams entering the game. Meanwhile, South Carolina struggled with their long-range shooting, going just 3-for-17 from three.
But it wasn’t just UConns shooting that was impressive. The Huskies out-rebounded South Carolina 48-29, a margin that showed the Gamecocks struggles inside. Uconn also dominated fast-break points, scoring 31 to South Carolinas 12, and created 10 fewer turnovers than the Gamecocks, showing their efficiency in all phases of the game.
“I thought in those three areas—rebounding, transition defense, and offense—we were as close to perfect as we’ve been all year,” Auriemma said.
For South Carolina, it was another blow in what has become a tough stretch. Just one week earlier, the Gamecocks 57-game regular season SEC winning streak was snapped by Texas. With this loss, South Carolina’s home-winning streak, the fourth-longest in Division one history, is now reset to zero. The Gamecocks have lost three times this season, their most defeats since 2020-21.
“Obviously, when you lose like this, there’s something else going on that isn’t just about basketball,” Staley said. “We need to figure it out and get back on track. We’ll get better, and we will.”
The Gamecocks now face a challenge: how to respond to their largest defeat in years and rediscover the form that made the gold standard of women’s college basketball.
