Betsided

Iowa vs. South Carolina Final Score Prediction for NCAA Tournament Championship

Attempting to predict the exact final score for the upcoming NCAA Tournament Final in women's college basketball between the Iowa Hawkeyes and South Carolina Gamecocks.

By Iain MacMillan

Caitlin Clark had a record-setting NCAA tournament in leading Iowa to the national championship
Caitlin Clark had a record-setting NCAA tournament in leading Iowa to the national championship / Zach Boyden-Holmes / USA TODAY NETWORK
facebooktwitterreddit

Sunday's Women's NCAA Tournament Final between Iowa and South Carolina is promising to must-watch television when Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes take on the undefeated Gamecocks.

There are storylines galore in this one from Iowa attempting to win its first National Championship to South Carolina trying to cap off its undefeated season to win its second National Championship in the past three years.

In this article, we're going to dive into the odds, my betting preview, and then my final score prediction for this highly anticipated tournament final.

If you want to bet on the game, click the link below to sign up for an account at DraftKings Sportsbook. If you do, you'll receive $150 in bonus bets when you place your first $5 wager!

Iowa vs. South Carolina Odds, Spread, and Total

Iowa vs. South Carolina Betting Preview

You can read my full betting preview for the game here, but here's why I like South Carolina to win and cover as 6.5-point favorites on Sunday afternoon:

South Carolina is too much for Iowa in this game. The Gamecocks are too deep with everyone on the team contributing in most games. The biggest difference that we see with a team this deep is their defense because they have no player that opposing teams can pick on.

That's why South Carolina has the best opponent field goal percentage in the country. Teams are shooting just 32.2% from the field against them. Iowa, on the other hand, is horrific defensively and the Hawkeyes are lucky it hasn't cost them yet in this tournament. They rank 145th in the country in opponent field goal percentage allowing teams to shoot 39.8% from the field.

That's a 7.6% difference between these two defenses.

Is Iowa the better shooting team? Sure, but the difference in their offensive field goal percentage is just 0.57%.

South Carolina is also the better rebounding team and the last good rebounding team they faced, LSU, managed to grab 23 offensive rebounds against them. I guarantee you that if they allow South Carolina to grab 23 offensive rebounds, this game is going to be a blowout.

Caitlin Clark is phenomenal, but South Carolina's depth is going to drown this Iowa team from start to finish. I'll lay the points with the Gamecocks.

Iowa vs. South Carolina Exact Score Prediction

You already know I like South Carolina to win by at least seven points in this game, but if we're attempting to predict the final score, then we have to have a take on the total too.

With it being set at 160.5, I'm going to go ahead and take the OVER. South Carolina's defense is unquestionably better, but Iowa's defense and offense leaves the door open for this to be a high-scoring affair regardless.

Iowa and South Carolina ranks first and third in points per game. The Hawkeyes average 91.4 and the Gamecocks average 85.4, which is a combined 176.8 points per game, well above the set total of 160.5.

That's going to reflect in my final prediction. I'm going to call South Carolina to win and cover in an offensive shootout of a game.

Prediction: Iowa 75, South Carolina 87

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

You can check out all of Iain's bets here!

Home/March Madness