Bulldogs face Gamecocks for title
William hit the winner to end UConn's 111-game winning streak, the Bulldogs dogpiled at center court as if they had won the school's first title.
“It felt like the national championship last night,” Mississippi State star Dominique Dillingham said. “But I promise you it'll be a lot better tomorrow when we win.”
It would be even sweeter to beat the Gamecocks to do it.
The Bulldogs — looking to be the third team in NCAA history to beat three No. 1 seeds after Tennessee in 1987 and Louisiana Tech in 1988 — lost twice to the Gamecocks this year, dropping a game in South Carolina in the regular season and then in the SEC Tournament title game.
“The first game we had against them at their place, it's a knockdown, drag-out, came down to one play,” Schaefer said. “We talked about that with our kids. It came down to one play in that ballgame.”
While facing a familiar foe is helpful for the short turnaround, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley knows Mississippi State is a different team from the one the Gamecocks played a month ago.
“It does make it easier. but for what Mississippi State has done over the past five games, you know, they're much different than they were that sixth game in which we played them in the SEC Tournament championship,” Staley said. “The intangible part of it is really hard to get our focus in on it. They're playing at an all-time high. Morgan William is playing some of the best basketball I've ever seen played in a player.”
William followed a career-best 41-point performance in the regional final, hitting the 15-footer against the Huskies.
“We feel like we won it all when we won that game last night, but we know we didn't,” William said. “We still have unfinished business, and for us to be playing South Carolina, it's kind of like, now we get another chance, like we got another chance at UConn, now we get another opportunity to play against South Carolina, but it's on a bigger stage and it means more.”
Today’s game marks the sixth time in NCAA Tournament history that teams from the same conference will play for the national championship.
It's the third time for the SEC with Tennessee beating Auburn in 1989 and the Lady Vols topping Georgia in 1996.
Maryland beat Duke in an ACC showdown in 2006 and UConn routed Louisville in 2009 and 2013 when both were still in the Big East.