South Carolina's Tessa Johnson, Chloe Kitts and more get warm send-off from fans ahead of Elite Eight matchup vs. Duke

The No. 1 seed South Carolina Gamecocks narrowly beat the No. 4-seeded Maryland Terrapins 71-67 on Friday evening on the back of an inspired second-half effort by star MiLaysia Fulwiley. The win locked in a clash against the No. 2-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon.

During their postgame news conferences, Gamecocks players were downbeat about their performance and what it meant for the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

“Today felt like a loss to us,” Te-Hina Paopao said. “If we play like this again, we’re going home Sunday.”

“We’re down half the game, and we can’t do that anymore,” Sania Feagin said. “It’s March.”

Despite their performance, South Carolina stars, including Chloe Kitts and Tessa Johnson, were given a warm farewell from Columbia by Gamecocks fans on Sunday before their Elite Eight clash with the Blue Devils. Fans gathered around the team's hotel and formed a tunnel, applauding the players as they boarded the bus.

The Gamecocks (33-3) vs. Blue Devils (29-7) matchup will tip off at 1 p.m. ET from Legacy Arena at BJCC. The contest will air on ABC.

South Carolina coach details difficulty of repeating

The South Carolina Gamecocks won the national championship unbeaten last year, but after losing stars like Kamilla Cardoso to the WNBA and forward Ashlyn Watkins to a season-ending injury in January, they've shown a few chinks in their armor.

The Gamecocks have lost three games this season and have trailed at halftime against the Indiana Hoosiers in the second round and against the Maryland Terrapins in the Sweet 16.

During her postgame news conference, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley detailed the difficulty of repeating as national champions and how the losses have helped her side stay on track.

"I think the biggest thing in winning the championship and then coming back is the players seem to forget how hard it was," Staley said. "We won. We were undefeated. You can kind of get drunk off that success and think, 'Oh, we can do it again.' It's much harder than they could have ever imagined.

"We had to work through not playing our best basketball early and not playing to the standard that we were used to. Every single one of our losses came at a time when we needed it, and we came out better because of it. I hope it's enough to get us to the finish line."

Despite the three losses, the South Carolina Gamecocks have still had a stellar season by any standard. They dominantly won the Southeastern Conference Tournament against fellow No. 1 seeds, the Texas Longhorns, and are three games away from repeating as national champions despite being written off in some quarters.