No. 1 South Carolina Heads Into The Final Week Of The Regular Season Still Unbeaten – News18

Coach Dawn Staley has South Carolina in a well-known place with every week left within the common season.

For the second straight yr the No. 1 Gamecocks haven’t misplaced a sport heading into March — a feat they hadn’t achieved earlier than final season. Even with all 5 starters from final yr’s Final Four run gone, the Gamecocks sit at 27-0 with two video games left.

They go to Arkansas on Thursday earlier than internet hosting Tennessee on Sunday. The Gamecocks clinched their third consecutive outright Southeastern Conference common-season championship and eighth in 11 years with Sunday’s win over Kentucky.

“We haven’t lost a game and our players are thinking this is the way it is. The competition gets better and better as we approach the postseason,” Staley stated after beating Kentucky. “We want to give our players their flowers but want them to know there’s work to do.”

Staley has been impressed together with her gamers and the way they’ve rallied even once they have been down in video games.

“They find a way to win basketball games,” she stated. “That’s the sign of a really good team. I’m not gonna say that we’re not a good basketball team. We’re a really good basketball team when we are playing like we played today.”

It’s been a balanced effort for the Gamecocks, who’ve seven gamers averaging 8.5 factors or extra this season.

South Carolina received’t need to go far for the SEC Tournament once more as a result of it’s performed in Greenville. The Gamecocks are poised for the No. 1 general seed within the NCAA Tournament. They may have the primary two video games at residence after which probably will journey to Albany, New York, for the regional, which means they received’t have to go away the Eastern time zone. The different regional is out in Portland, Oregon.

While the Gamecocks have wrapped up the SEC already, there are a bunch of different huge video games this week.

Sunday’s matchup towards No. 2 Ohio State may very well be sixth-ranked Iowa star Caitlin Clark’s ultimate common-season sport at residence. The NCAA’s all-time scoring chief has a yr of eligibility left if she desires it. She hasn’t introduced whether or not she’ll come again for a fifth yr or enter the WNBA draft, the place she is the presumed No. 1 choose.

Clark doubtlessly may have two extra video games at residence within the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament becuse the highest 16 groups host these video games.

No. 3 Texas visits twentieth-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday with first place within the Big 12 Conference on the road. The Sooners have a one-sport lead over the Longhorns. Oklahoma received the primary assembly by 4 factors final month. If Texas wins and the 2 groups find yourself tied within the standings — they every have one sport left after Wednesday — they’d share the common-season crown.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)