Gamecock fans celebrate during the first half of action during the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC, on Sunday, March. 24, 2024.
Three weeks ago, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley challenged fans to show up for the Gamecocks’ NCAA Tournament games in Columbia.
Message received.
It was evident from inside Colonial Life Arena and the ESPN and ABC TV broadcasts: No. 1 overall seed USC played in front of some raucous home crowds in its wins Friday against 16 seed Presbyterian and Sunday against 8 seed UNC (a blowout 47-point victory that sent the Gamecocks cruising into the Sweet 16).
Friday’s official attendance was 11,536, a 15% increase from last year’s 10,056 attendance for the two Friday games at CLA (capacity 18,000). And Sunday’s game against UNC brought in 14,266 fans, a dramatic 38% increase from last year’s Sunday game attendance (10,335).
Sunday’s attendance of 14,266 was also a record for an NCAA women’s tournament game played in Columbia, according to a team spokesperson. The previous high was 11,085 during a March 16, 2018 game against N.C. A&T.
After South Carolina’s senior day win against Tennessee on March 3, Staley implored fans to show up for USC’s NCAA Tournament games in the Columbia regional at the same level they did during a record-setting regular season.
The Gamecocks sold out five separate home games during 2023-24, a program record for a single season, and had an NCAA-leading average attendance of 16,067 fans per game. But, as Staley noted in a postgame address to fans on the court, USC has traditionally seen a drop in attendance for its first- and second-round games in Columbia (which top 16 seeds have been hosting since 2015).
For a program that just completed a second straight undefeated regular season, those games might be considered easy wins and a chance to skip out on attending.
“Historically, our attendance has dropped during the NCAA Tournament,” Staley said March 3. “I’m gonna ask y’all to rub those coins together and fill this arena up, because it may be the last time we see” outgoing senior players.
South Carolina fans heard that message and made a tangible impact Sunday, according to UNC coach Courtney Banghart.
“I think it’s really great,” Banghart said. “The growth of our game makes these home games matter. I’ve been in the game a long time. And only in the last few years does home-court advantage feel as much as it does now. That’s the first thing. We knew (USC) playing at home was a totally different thing.”
In her postgame news conference, Staley particularly complimented the crowd for how it received senior center Kamilla Cardoso, who hasn’t explicitly said she’s leaving USC after this season but is projected as a top 5 WNBA Draft pick. Cardoso was also coming off a one-game suspension after a fighting ejection in the SEC championship game
“Kamilla had a hard time with it, to be honest,” Staley said. “She felt like she let her team down. She’s almost embarrassed by not being able to play. No matter how much we tried to shake her out of it, only basketball, only getting back out there and running up and down and hearing the ovation from the crowd, even got her a little emotional at the beginning of the game.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2024, 4:05 PM.
