Texas earned its second straight trip to the Final Four with Monday’s 77-41 win over Michigan, and South Carolina earned its sixth straight with its 78-52 win over TCU.
The Longhorn will face the UCLA Bruins, who advanced with a 70-58 win over Duke on Monday, and the Gamecocks will face the UConn Huskies, who beat Notre Dame 70-52 on Sunday.
How did Texas advance to the Final Four?
Texas coach Vic Schaefer was down on his knee already sharing a long and tight embrace with 5-foot-6 sparkplug guard Rori Harmon even as the final seconds were winding down in a rout that ensured them one more weekend together on the court.
After five years constantly around each other and another school record-tying 35-win season, the coach and player who don’t want it to end yet are going to the women’s Final Four for the second year in a row.
“I prayed for that a long time last night, to have that moment today with her,” Schaefer said. “The kid has been so special. She’s been the heart of really our team and program for a while.”
Third-year starter Madison Booker had 19 points and seven rebounds and Harmon had 13 assists as Texas overwhelmed Michigan 77-41 in the Fort Worth Regional 3 championship game on Monday night.
“There’s so much hard work, tears, blood, sweat, adversity that we go through together,” Harmon said of the hug. “When you get to a point like heading to the Final Four like that, it’s just a really special moment.”
The Longhorns missed only one shot in the first quarter, quickly building a double-digit lead and maintaining control in the only regional final matching the top two seeds.
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Justice Carlton added 15 points while Kyla Oldacre added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Texas (35-3), which built as much as a 40-point lead.
Schaefer, in his sixth season with the Longhorns, also took Mississippi State to back-to-back Final Fours in 2017 and 2018, and was a top assistant for Texas A&M’s national title in 2012. He is the first coach to make multiple Final Fours with multiple teams.
“Well, this group is awfully special. They’re tough. We call it Texas tough in Austin. But I told them they’re good enough,” he said.
Top-seeded Texas is going to its fifth Final Four overall, and the only other time the Longhorns had made back-to-back appearances was their undefeated 34-0 national championship season in 1986 and semifinal loss the following season. Before last year’s loss to South Carolina, they hadn’t made it to the season’s final weekend since 2003.
Next for Texas is on Friday in Phoenix against UCLA (35-1), another top seed. It’s a rematch against the only team to beat the Big Ten champion this season. The Bruins have won 29 in a row since a 76-65 loss to the Horns in the Players Era Championship on Nov. 26.
“A great team. We’ve seen them a long time ago,” Schaefer said. “We’re not even thinking that far ahead. I want them to enjoy today, enjoy this moment. These times are not guaranteed.”
How did South Carolina advance to the Final Four?
Dawn Staley and South Carolina are back in a familiar place — the Final Four.
Joyce Edwards scored 24 points and Agot Makeer added 18 to help the Gamecocks beat TCU on Monday night to advance to the national semifinals in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina (34-3) has now reached the Final Four in six straight years and won two national championships during that stretch. Staley has been at the helm for all of them, including the undefeated 2023-24 season.
“Super proud of this team, a lot of unknowns coming into the season. Our ranking and what people thought of us was off our history,” Staley said. “We had too many holes, but I’m happy we were able to fill them and compete on the third weekend of the NCAA Tournament.”
The top-seeded Gamecocks will face UConn in the Final Four in Phoenix on Friday night in a rematch of last season’s national championship game.
“You got to keep the game close, got to be able to score,” Staley said of the undefeated Huskies. “We aren’t going to be keeping them from 25 points under their average. You got to go pound for pound and be unafraid playing against an undefeated team.”
This was the first time that the Gamecocks had really been challenged in the NCAA Tournament. They came into the game averaging nearly 100 points a game in their first three contests and were winning by an average of 45 points.
The Gamecocks have so many offensive weapons, making them tough to guard. The Horned Frogs (32-6) did a good job on the South Carolina guards, but had no answer for Edwards and Makeer. Edwards also had 12 rebounds and three blocks.
The pair scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to blow an eight-point game wide open. South Carolina outscored TCU 29-11 in the fourth.
“I’m so proud of her, she came in and made a huge impact,” Edwards said of Makeer. “She came in and played basketball like we know she (can).”
South Carolina trailed 22-18 early in the second quarter before going on a 17-5 run to close the half. Edwards had the first six points of the spurt and hit a jumper with 3 seconds left to close the quarter and make it 35-27. She had 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks in the opening 20 minutes.
The Horned Frogs hung around in the third quarter and cut their deficit to 47-39 on Olivia Miles’ layup with 1:26 left. She immediately went down and grabbed her left calf. The senior All-American guard was on the ground under the basket for a minute before getting up and going over to the area behind the bench where trainers worked on the calf.
Miles missed the rest of the quarter, but was back for the start of the fourth.
“I’m doing better now. just dealing with some cramping stuff, preventing my movement a little bit,” Miles said. “I got to play in an Elite Eight game and try to get to the Final Four, just tried to play through it.”
She came into the game averaging a triple-double in the NCAA Tournament, but finished with 18 points, three rebounds and six assists.
Final Four matchups
South Carolina will face UConn for the first time this season. The two teams had played each other for the past 11 years, but took this season off. They’ll meet again the next two years.
Texas and UCLA will play in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time, having split their first four postseason meetings. The Longhorns won a second-round game in 2021 in the last meeting.
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