UCLA loses to South Carolina, Pac-12 fully eliminated from NCAA Tournament
Unlike men’s basketball, the Pac-12 put a lot of teams in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The Pac-12 actually put a majority of its 12 teams (seven) in the women’s NCAA field. Yet, none of them reached the Final Four or even the Elite Eight.
UCLA was the last Pac-12 team standing, but the Bruins ran into No. 1 and undefeated South Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Greenville, S.C. Playing an unbeaten juggernaut is a tough-enough assignment as it is. The Bruins had to go into the state of South Carolina, making the task even tougher.
It ended as everyone expected it would.
South Carolina smothered UCLA’s offense, limiting the Bruins to 34 points in the game’s first 36 minutes before the Bruins got a few very late and inconsequential 3-pointers to make the score seem slightly closer than it was. The final was 59-43 for South Carolina, but it felt a lot more like a 25-point game than 16.
UCLA scored just 15 points in the first half against the Gamecocks’ elite defense and could never get into a real rhythm for more than a few minutes at a time. The Bruins had a good NCAA Tournament by becoming one of three Pac-12 teams to make the Sweet 16, but they had a bad draw in this round and realized why their losses late in the season — which caused them to fall on the seed list — were so important. Fewer losses would have meant a No. 3 seed for the Bruins, who might still be playing had they not met the defending national champions this early in the tournament.
