Many more football fans yes. But Tar Heel basketball is king in the Carolina's. Even our top high school talent if given a choice to sign with the Tar heels or USC they would choose UNC 99 percent of the time.
I mean, if you count the entire Carolinas, then there are a lot more UNC basketball fans if only because NC has, like, over twice the population of SC. Anyway, here are the bottom lines:
1. Among the top high school players in the Carolinas, UNC and Duke have been the kings for a long time. No doubt about that. I don't know if USC has ever stolen a recruit from UNC or Duke in my entire life.
2. Among snot nosed kids, it's basically a melting pot of fandom. When I was in school, there were tons of UNLV, Georgetown, and, of course, Duke and UNC basketball fans. Although I can't imagine too many kids pulling for UNLV or Georgetown these days, I'm sure there are still plenty of grade schoolers who claim to pull for Duke and UNC. That's probably similar throughout the southeast and mid-Atlantic. This isn't a problem except for when some snot nosed kid is also really good at basketball and is looking at colleges.
3. Among the actual adults that matter (i.e. people who buy tickets, join booster organizations, etc.), there are many, many more USC basketball fans in South Carolina (and Columbia in particular) than any out of state school. Yes, there is a phenomenon in which some adults root for USC in all sports but also adopt UNC, Duke, or UK as "their" basketball team. And yes, when Kentucky comes to town, their fans (most of whom live out of state) buy up tickets and often outnumber USC fans by the end of the game. I'm sure a similar thing would happen if we ever hosted Duke or UNC. But SC is still Gamecock country in terms of sheer number of USC fans. The shadow of UNC, Duke, and UK loom large, though.