South Carolina women's basketball: Recapping the ACC/SEC Challenge

The SEC flexed its muscle in this season’s ACC/SEC Challenge, winning 13 of the games between the two leagues.

Only Syracuse (over Auburn), SMU (over Arkansas), and Virginia Tech (over Florida) claimed wins. The three ranked teams, no. 11 North Carolina, no. 18 Notre Dame, and no. 22 Louisville, all lost, albeit to higher-ranked foes.

The ACC’s struggles extended beyond the Challenge. Boston College lost by 27 to Quinnipiac, and Wake Forest, the last undefeated ACC team, lost at home to William & Mary.

The SEC finished one win short of matching what the SEC men did last year, when they went 14-2. That dominance established a season-long narrative about the strength of the SEC and weak ACC. 

The SEC ended up with a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament, while the ACC had just four, including the controversial inclusion of North Carolina. A similar narrative could play out for the women this season. 

According to ESPN’s matchup predictor, the SEC was favored to win 13 of the 16 games this season. The only ACC programs favored to win are Syracuse (over Auburn), Virginia Tech (over Florida), and SMU (over Arkansas, which is ranked nearly 100 spots higher in the NET). The predictor hit on all three.

The leagues each won seven games in 2023, and the SEC won 10-6 last season to take a 2-0-1 advantage.

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Results (home team second)
Wednesday
Virginia 68, #15 Vanderbilt 81
#17 Kentucky 64, Miami 48
Auburn 60, Syracuse 66 (OT)
Georgia 80, Florida State 60
NC State 98, #9 Oklahoma 103 (OT)
Georgia Tech 63, Texas A&M 72
#19 Tennessee 65, Stanford 62

Thursday
Florida 64, Virginia Tech 68
#3 South Carolina 79, Louisville 77
#11 North Carolina 64, #2 Texas 79
Pitt 44, Mississippi State 79
Arkansas 63, SMU 78
Clemson 48, Alabama 72
#5 LSU 93, Duke 77
#18 Notre Dame 62, #13 Ole Miss 69
Cal 67, Mizzou 68

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Takeaways

Duke’s spiral continues with no end in sight. Moving on.

NC State and Louisville showed promise, taking Oklahoma and South Carolina to the wire. 

Florida has lots of talent, and needed to beat Virginia Tech for a resume boost, but couldn’t do it. This was probably the only result that could really be called disappointing for the SEC.

In the nightcap, Missouri moved to a surprising 8-2 with a mild upset of Cal. Both teams now have a NET in the 70s. That’s progress for MIzzou, but regression for Cal

Florida State isn’t very good this season, but a 20-point win is a nice feather in Georgia’s cap.

SMU was off to a 3-5 start and desperately needed that win over Arkansas,

Losing to Alabama isn’t necessarily bad, but losing by 24 points suggests that Clemson isn’t as far along in its rebuild as a lot of people thought going into the season.

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