Ready for a battle, USC went to Tennessee — and got its easiest win yet in the rivalry
Dawn Staley came prepared.
She knew her South Carolina team had struggled mightily to break Kentucky’s press defense in its loss on Thursday, so when the Gamecocks traveled to play Tennessee on Sunday, she loaded up her starting lineup with four experienced guards who could handle the ball, wouldn’t get caught in traps and would have the awareness to make the necessary pass.
Sure enough, USC had just six turnovers and led wire-to-wire for an 82-67 win. The Gamecocks jumped out to a 27-11 lead early and posted their biggest road win in the series between the two programs and their second largest margin of victory ever against the Lady Vols. At one point, USC led by 20 points, and Tennessee only ever got within seven points while trying to rally.
But one thing seemed to surprise Staley a little bit — Tennessee didn’t really try to pressure Carolina.
“We didn’t handle Kentucky’s press, so I just thought we’d go with somebody who’s more experienced, used to handling that, because I thought Tennessee would press us a little bit more, considering how we handled it against Kentucky,” Staley noted after the game.
Indeed, Tennessee coach Holly Warlick’s squad had some trouble getting back even after they scored — on multiple occasions, senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore caught the Lady Vol defense napping after a bucket and sneaked behind it for a long pass from Tyasha Harris and an easy score.
Instances like those highlighted just how divergent the paths South Carolina and Tennessee seem to be on this year. While the Gamecocks are fighting for an SEC championship and NCAA hosting rights, the Lady Vols are slumping, fighting for an NCAA tournament bid and a .500 record in the SEC.
In the preseason AP and coaches polls, USC and UT were neck-and-neck, hanging around the top 10. At the beginning of the year, Sunday’s matchup looked like it would be another late-season battle for SEC standing, maybe even supremacy.
What actually unfolded was a workmanlike performance from one team and another reminder that one of the nation’s premier programs is falling behind, quickly. Even without leading scorer (and Tennessee transfer) Te’a Cooper, the Gamecocks seized control right away and, even when the Lady Vols showed signs of life in the third quarter, never really seemed threatened.
“I think we live for moments like this,” Cuevas-Moore said. “(Senior guard Donyiah Cliney) and I, we’ve been with the program for a long time, so I think we know what it takes at the end of a game like that to come back and just execute our game plan and get the W.”
On Tennessee’s side, Warlick had a lineup with one freshman but a fair share of experienced players like Cuevas-Moore and Cliney. They just simply didn’t have the composure she wanted.
“We had so many mental mistakes. You can’t blame it on youth. You’re playing five kids that have been mainly starting the whole year,” Warlick said. “We can’t let us not making buckets affect us on defense.”
Warlick herself is under pressure — Tennessee fans expect not just NCAA tournament berths but success. She knows it, and on Sunday, she and her players had the chance, playing on ESPN2 in front of a national audience, to considerably strengthen their case. South Carolina’s loss to Kentucky confirmed that although the Gamecocks have improved from their early-season struggles, they’re still vulnerable to teams below them in the rankings.
Instead, the Lady Vols fell flat on their faces, and South Carolina bounced back in a major way.
“We prepared really well for this game, so that was a good thing for us. We wanted to show Coach Staley we still are as good as we are, so that was pretty much it,” Cuevas-Moore said.
Even with the down season Tennessee is having, few teams travel to Knoxville and are in control from start to finish, making winning look easy — that’s a not insignificant boost to USC’s resume.
As the final seconds ticked away Sunday, South Carolina fans triumphantly chanted “Gamecocks” as the home faithful headed to the exits, and for the first time in a few years now, the UT-USC rivalry felt a little ... boring.
