Telepeer

NCAA Tournament: Jazzy Davidson, USC ready to avenge loss to South Carolina

March 22, 2026

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jazzy Davidson has built a women’s college basketball resume that’s unmatched by any other freshman in the country this season, and equalled by few others who have played for USC.

She was named Freshman of the Year by the Big Ten and The Athletic, and added to her accomplishments on Saturday, becoming the first freshman in the last quarter of a century to have more than 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists in an NCAA Tournament debut.

“We play with a lot of grit and heart,” Davidson told reporters after the game. “And when we’re clicking, I think that can be scary for a lot of teams.”

Few teams have been able to contain Davidson this season. One of them is South Carolina — and she and the ninth-seeded Trojans (18-13) will get a second chance against the top-seeded Gamecocks (32-3) on Monday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve come a long way,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs of the season and developed as a team. So have they. It’s a huge challenge in front of us, but we’re excited to still be playing and excited to take our shot at one of the nation’s best teams.”

USC was playing its third game of the season when it last saw South Carolina, and the Trojans were still struggling to find their legs without JuJu Watkins, who Davidson was expected to be a complementary piece to.

At its conception, the game — which is part of a home-and-home series — was billed as a high-stakes game featuring nationally-recognized talent and was even played Crypto.com Arena. Clever marketing had labeled it as “The Real SC,” putting the schools’ identical initials on the line.

South Carolina walked away with a 69-52 win and held Davidson to eight points and three rebounds. It was her lowest output this season until the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, when she had eight points and one rebound while sustaining a right shoulder injury against Washington.

She was unhappy with her performance against South Carolina, naturally, but told Southern California News Group that the Big Ten season and support from her teammates has prepared her for the rematch.

“My teammates that have had more experience than me with college basketball knew that it was still super early on in the season,” Davidson said. “The world wasn’t ending. (They said) it was OK, it’s expected to have a game or two like that your freshman season.”

One of those teammates is senior guard Kara Dunn, who could be playing in her final college basketball game on Monday. Dunn recorded 22 points and four rebounds in Saturday’s first-round overtime win over Clemson and made a three-point play late in the fourth quarter and two free throws in overtime that were pivotal in the win.

“Clemson plays with a lot of passion,” Dunn said after the game. “They always do. And I felt like we absolutely met that, and I felt like we surpassed it in the end. We were playing for each other.”

Davidson showed no signs of having a shoulder injury in that game, aside from wearing a compression sleeve on her upper arm.

“She got full clearance to play, but the rest helped her in the off time, and the rehab continues,” Gottlieb said. “She’s a really tough kid. I don’t think anything was going to keep her from playing. She continues to just deal with a shoulder thing.”

South Carolina lost just three games after beating USC on Nov. 15, falling to Texas twice and Oklahoma once. The Gamecocks will look a little different this time around after adding Alicia Tournebize, a 6-foot-7 French forward, who was added to the roster in late December.

Six-foot-3 sophomore forward Joyce Edwards (19.8 ppg) has been a force for South Carolina this season and put up 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks the last time the two teams met.

“We’ve got to box out,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve got to box out. Keep them off the boards. That’s important.”

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Who: No. 9 seed USC (18-13) vs. No. 1 seed South Carolina (32-3)

When: Monday, 5 p.m. PT

Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina

TV/Radio: ESPN/USCTrojans.com/Listen

Orange County Register

News Details

NCAA Tournament: Jazzy Davidson, USC ready to avenge loss to South Carolina

NCAA TOURNAMENT

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS