Iowa vs. South Carolina women’s basketball Final Four game time, TV, live stream, storylines

Friday’s NCAA women’s basketball Final Four nightcap features the No. 2-seed Iowa Hawkeyes (30-6) taking on the No. 1 overall seed, defending champion South Carolina Gamecocks (36-0) at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

How to watch Iowa vs. South Carolina Final Four game

Time: 8:30 p.m. (CT) Friday, March 31, 2023

TV: ESPN and ESPNU

Live stream: ESPN.com and ESPN+

TV announcers: Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Andraya Carter, Holly Rowe

More viewing options: The Bird & Taurasi Show on ESPN2 and ESPN+, “Beyond the Rim” aerial view on ESPN+, “On the Rail” full-length floor view on ESPN+

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network and Sirius XM Channel 84

NCAA tournament picture for Iowa and South Carolina

What’s at stake: The winner advances to Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. national championship game, where it will face the winner of No. 3-seed LSU and No. 1-seed Virginia Tech. The Gamecocks have won 42 straight games, including their second national title last season.

How they got here: Caitlin Clark’s historic 41-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double powered Iowa to a 97-83 win over No. 5-seed Louisville in Sunday’s Elite Eight in Seattle, two days after an 87-77 win over No. 6-seed Colorado. The Hawkeyes beat No. 15-seed Southeastern Louisiana 95-43 and No. 10-seed Georgia 74-66 in the first two rounds at home. South Carolina beat the other Big Ten No. 2 seed to get here, handling Maryland 86-75 in Monday’s Elite Eight in Greenville, S.C., after a 59-43 win over UCLA. The Gamecocks beat Norfolk State 72-40 and South Florida 76-45 in the opening rounds at home.

Series: South Carolina won the only prior meeting, 82-76 on Dec. 29, 1989.

Line: South Carolina -11.5

Five facts about Iowa vs. South Carolina

1. The game features the last two national players of the year: Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston.

2. South Carolina assistant coach Jolette Law was a two-time All-Big Ten player and part of four conference championship teams at Iowa from 1986-90. Her head coach at Iowa, C. Vivian Stringer led the Hawkeyes to their only other Final Four appearance in 1993.

3. Clark has scored 984 points this season and is 17 points away from the Big Ten’s single-season scoring record, set by Iowa’s Megan Gustafson (1,001) in 2018-19. Clark is averaging 27.3 points per game, third in the nation.

4. Coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina won their first national title at American Airlines Center six years ago Sunday.

5. Iowa is the Big Ten’s first Final Four team since Maryland in 2015. Purdue in 1999 was the last team to win a national title as a member of the Big Ten.

Iowa-South Carolina pregame stories:

» Iowa women’s basketball ‘trying to enjoy every single second’ on Final Four stage

» Iowa faces a tall task, a big challenge in South Carolina at the Final Four

» Caitlin Clark saw Final Four potential in Iowa, and the rest truly is history

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com