GREENVILLE, S.C. — The atmosphere in Greenville was electric on Saturday as Gamecocks Nation took over the Emerald City to watch their Sweet Sixteen win.
Outside the stadium, fans were seen all around downtown sporting their Garnet and Black. Inside the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, it felt and sounded like a home game at Colonial Life Arena. After a comfortable lead in the third quarter, some fans even began heading out.
James Brown and his family said it's a great time to be a Gamecock
"It's awesome again. Dawn Staley is doing a great job putting the team together, and just go undefeated and repeat," he said.
They didn't have a long road trip coming from Columbia, but the hype around the team made some, including Krista Greene, drive for hours. She lives in West Virginia and came to see the win.
"I'm not surprised, I knew that was gonna happen." She said. "They're gonna win it all."
The Gamecock love wasn't just for fans, it was felt by vendors too. Taylor Allen and her family were selling merchandise for every team but said the South Carolina shirts sold out before they were even in the area.
"We were here yesterday and we were really low already on the bigger sizes, and they didn't even play yesterday," Allen said. "And then everybody that came in this morning was already buying it and we sold out in the first game before Carolina even started playing."
After Saturday's results, the Gamecocks will play Maryland on Monday.