Allisha Gray’s injury stressed USC fans, but not her

Gamecocks fans were deeply worried about it. South Carolina women’s basketball forward Allisha Gray, not nearly as much.

The scene Sunday wasn’t great, with the North Carolina transfer going down grabbing at her leg, then being carried off by a staffer.

Speculation was rampant, but from the moment it happened, Gray was pretty sure it wasn’t catastrophic. It was just a hamstring, a slight tweak, a bad muscle spasm (Charley Horse).

“I didn’t feel anything like pop or anything,” Gray said. “And then with me injuring my ACL, MCL and meniscus, I knew it wasn’t bad. I was nervous about the injury, but the medical staff was telling me I should be able to play Saturday.”

She lost her senior season of high school to a serious knee injury suffered in the summer playing for USA Basketball.

Geno looms

Even when he’s coaching all the way across the country, UConn’s Geno Auriemma somehow pops up in the conversation of South Carolina basketball.

He donned a Quinnipiac T-shirt Friday and photos of him made the rounds online. The schools are a little more than an hour apart in Connecticut, and Bobcats coach Tricia Fabbri called him a mentor.

“He helped me in this process, get a job at Quinnipiac a long, long time ago, 22 years ago,” Fabbri said. “But really just a gold standard, a great guy, and then he was so excited. He reached out as soon as we won, and so complimentary of what we were able to accomplish over the weekend.

“The fact that he is wearing our shirt in support of our team in this tournament at this time, just so thankful.”

Fabbri took a small program that started at 2-23 in Division II her first year and built a consistent winner, shepherded it into Division I and won the first two NCAA games in the team’s history to reach this weekend.

Conference pride

Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley isn’t one to hold back, even in enemy territory.

This season’s Pac-12 has a good case as the top conference in the land. It sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament, and five of its teams are still standing in the Sweet 16. The group included a pair of No. 2 seeds, plus a 3 and 4.

But Staley wasn’t about to kowtow, despite being in the Pacific time zone.

“I know some of the Pac-12 teams will beg to differ, but I think we play in the best conference in the country,” Staley said. “When you have that kind of platform that pushes you every day, every game, you know, if you can get lucky and get some talented players, you can experience success.”

The SEC led all conferences with eight tournament berths, and had two top-four seeds.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Allisha Gray’s injury stressed USC fans, but not her."