South Carolina battles past feisty Buffalo to advance to Elite Eight

Perfect basketball continues to elude South Carolina, but the Gamecocks keep making enough plays to keep their season alive in the NCAA Tournament. That trend continued Saturday, as USC (29-6) earned a tense 79-63 win against No. 11 seed Buffalo in the Sweet 16.

“I think we looked pretty good from a physical standpoint, but ... just the chemistry and cohesion is not there,” USC coach Dawn Staley said. “But we found a way to win the game. I know that there are a lot of other teams that would love to be in our position and winning ugly and continuing, rather than losing pretty.”

Senior forward A’ja Wilson led the way as usual for South Carolina, registering 20 points and 12 rebounds. Still, though the Gamecocks never trailed after the first quarter, they were never able to effectively crush the upstart Bulls, who rode 29 points from junior guard Cierra Dillard to keep the game within reach.

It didn’t help that South Carolina had its second-most turnovers on the season, giving away the ball 26 times, which Buffalo converted into 26 points.

“We just were careless with the ball at moments,” said junior guard Doniyah Cliney, who had the fewest turnovers of any USC player with more than five minutes. “We didn’t make the smart passes at moments or made lax passes. It was mostly just us not being as disciplined as coach Staley needs us to be.”

The beginning of the game was particularly sloppy, as the Gamecocks turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes, often in live-ball situations that led to easy transition points for the guard-heavy Bulls. Dillard, in particular, feasted, collecting 13 points in the first quarter to lead all scorers. After one period, Buffalo led 17-16.

Into the second quarter, however, USC righted itself, committing only four turnovers, most of them travels or fouls that stopped play and prevented Buffalo from converting them into transition buckets. Meanwhile, redshirt junior forward Alexis Jennings exploded after a quiet first quarter of only two points and one rebound to collect 10 and 3, respectively, in the second.

“I did have a slow start today, but I picked it up,” Jennings said. “I just did what I needed to do for my team, and that was focusing on finishing at the rim.”

Wilson chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds in the half, and freshman forward Lele Grissett added seven points. All told, South Carolina’s forwards accounted for 33 of its 40 points through one half, and they won the game’s rebounding battle, 48-21, in addition to outscoring the Bulls 52-30 in the paint.

“I think everyone knows that’s kinda our bread and butter and that’s kinda our go-to, getting in the paint, whether we are dribbling or using our size inside,” Wilson said. “That’s something we’re blessed with, and we used that very well.”

Jennings finished with 20 points to tie for the team lead, while Cliney added 12 points and sophomore point guard Tyasha Harris had 10 points and nine assists.

In the final two quarters, however, the Gamecocks turned the ball over 14 times, matching their 14-of-27 shooting from the field. Into the fourth quarter, Buffalo closed to within five points of USC, but timely 8-for-9 free throw shooting and a late 11-4 run kept USC's lead intact.

"If we would have just frustrated them, we would have won. We really had them right where we wanted them to be," Buffalo coach Felisha Leggett-Jack said.

Wilson admitted to being frustrated throughout the game, especially late, but she said that was mostly related to her own expectations, not what Buffalo did.

"This whole tournament, I've really been inside my head a lot. ... I feel like I'm defending myself and I'm blocking shots of my own, and that's really not good," Wilson said.

"It's going to come. It's going to click. Yes, there was times in the game I was very frustrated at my game, I was very frustrated and I felt like I wasn't contributing to my team the way I should, and I can't stand that feeling. I hate it. And they really helped me lift up and they lifted my spirits. They might not know that, but they definitely do."

Wilson and South Carolina will now play the game fans have been waiting for since the bracket was revealed — No. 1 seed UConn in the Elite Eight at 7 p.m. Monday.

This story was originally published March 24, 2018 at 1:30 PM with the headline "South Carolina battles past feisty Buffalo to advance to Elite Eight."