Four nationally ranked women's college basketball teams converge on Uptown Charlotte this Sunday, Nov. 8, as the Ally Tipoff returns to Spectrum Center for a doubleheader pairing No. 1 South Carolina against North Carolina, followed by NC State against Kentucky. It's the fourth staging of an event that has quickly become a fixture of the fall sports calendar in a city that has turned into something of a hub for the women's game since the pandemic.
According to the Charlotte Sports Foundation, which organizes the event, South Carolina and North Carolina will open the day, with NC State facing Kentucky in the nightcap. The South Carolina-North Carolina matchup is set for 5:30 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN, per On3. South Carolina enters as the reigning 2024 national champion and one of the sport's marquee programs, based not far from Charlotte in Columbia.
The second game's start time carries some uncertainty. A snippet from the Atlantic Coast Conference lists NC State facing Kentucky at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2, with NC State identified as No. 25 and Kentucky as No. 14 in that same account — rankings that could not be independently confirmed elsewhere. South Carolina and North Carolina have also been cited in rankings as No. 1 and No. 12, respectively, though that detail likewise traces back to the same thinly sourced snapshot.
A Doubleheader Locked In Through 2028
This isn't a one-off booking. South Carolina is scheduled to play in the Ally Tipoff every year from 2026 through 2028, according to GamecocksOnline, the school's official athletics site. After facing North Carolina this year, the Gamecocks are set to meet UConn in 2027 and NC State in 2028, giving Charlotte a rotating cast of blue-blood programs for the foreseeable future.
The same GamecocksOnline report notes that the Ally Tipoff set regular-season women's basketball attendance records for the state of North Carolina in each of its first two years — a sign of how quickly the event found an audience. South Carolina's part of that history, too: the Gamecocks beat NC State 71-57 in the 2024 edition of the event, part of what was billed at the time as a Final Four rematch, according to a report from WUNC.
From Caitlin Clark's Debut to a Charlotte Staple
The event's roots trace back to 2023, when the Charlotte Sports Foundation kicked off the first Ally Tipoff with a matchup between Iowa and Virginia Tech. That inaugural game drew 15,196 fans, some of whom turned out specifically to see Iowa star Caitlin Clark. The following year's doubleheader topped that mark, with WUNC reporting an announced attendance of 15,424 that reset the state's regular-season record.
The growth hasn't been limited to attendance. The inaugural 2023 game generated $2.5 million in economic impact according to Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority data, a figure that climbed to $2.7 million for the 2024 doubleheader, as reported by Axios in its coverage of the 2025 Ally Tipoff. The surrounding success of the women's game nationally hasn't hurt the event's profile, either — the 2024 national championship game between South Carolina and Iowa drew a national television audience of 18.9 million viewers, per WUNC.
What Sunday's Trip to Spectrum Center Looks Like
Tickets for Sunday's doubleheader start at $41.94 and are valid for both games, giving fans a chance to watch all four ranked teams without buying separate admission. The event has become enough of an institution that Dawn Staley, South Carolina's head coach, has previously floated whether Charlotte could someday host a Final Four — a notion WUNC explored after the 2024 doubleheader cemented the city's standing as a women's basketball draw.
As reported by Axios, Sunday's slate marks the fourth year women's college basketball has made Spectrum Center a regular fall stop. With South Carolina already committed through 2028 and the event's attendance and economic figures climbing in its first two years, the Ally Tipoff looks set to remain part of Charlotte's sports identity well beyond this weekend's games.
