How South Carolina’s ‘spectacular’ defense set records, powered Final Four berth
Dawn Staley didn’t even realize South Carolina women’s basketball had made history.
Of course she knew that her team was headed back to the Final Four, the third such trip for the program. And she was well aware of the significance of doing so one year after the Gamecocks were denied a shot at the national title because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But what with the confetti and the net-cutting and the celebrating, she didn’t realize until she finally looked at a scoresheet what USC had done — hold Texas, its Elite Eight opponent, completely scoreless for the final quarter of the game.
Ever since the NCAA moved to quarters in 2015-16, no team in tournament history had prevented its opponent from scoring for an entire 10 minutes. Even as top-seeded teams have pounded over-matched opponents in the early rounds, they had always managed to score at least a bucket or two. And in the Elite Eight? The previous record for fewest points was 7.
“I say we were just locked in,” Staley said. “We were a team that was driven to be where we are right now. They wanted to go to the Final Four, they want to win a national championship. And they’re going to give it up on both sides of the ball. I think it was a pretty good defensive performance.”
Staley was quick to note that Texas seemed to be running on empty toward the end of the game, fatigued after pulling off a major upset in the Sweet 16 over No. 2 seed Maryland. But the Longhorns coach, Vic Schaefer, gave the credit to South Carolina, not exhaustion.
“I told her, it seems when we play them, their defense is always on point, it rises to the occasion and they always play extremely hard on that end,” Schaefer said. “I thought today they were spectacular. It’s hard to win, hard to be competitive when there’s ... three minutes to go in the third quarter, and we don’t score again.”
And it wasn’t just the last quarter. Heading into the contest, Texas was the team that had generated headlines with its defensive performance against Maryland, the nation’s best offense. South Carolina, however, had been clicking on defense all tournament long and immediately kept that up Tuesday.
The Longhorns got a quick layup 34 seconds into the game, but after that they missed 13 of their next 14 shots. Layups, jumpers, 3-pointers, Texas tried them all — but South Carolina stayed underneath the Longhorns and contested well.
“They’re just long and really quick and athletic,” Schaefer said. “They can test you in everything that you do. Whether you’re out there at 3-point range or all the way at the rim, they really make it hard on you. ... Part of defense is contesting the shot. A lot of people don’t do that, and they do.”
Into the second quarter, UT got its best shooting stretch of the night, making half their shots before the halftime break. But with the return of sophomore forward Laeticia Amihere from foul trouble in the third quarter, Texas’ woes resurfaced. Amihere had five blocks in the third quarter alone as Texas shot 27.8%. Then came the shutdown final quarter.
“I think defense is what wins games,” Cooke said. “Of course you have to have the offensive part. But if you’re not a well put together defensive team, it’s gonna be tough. Texas was definitely a good defensive team as well, but we just came out with the victory.”
With as many blocked shots as Texas had field goals, the Gamecocks got back to their identity as a rim-protecting squad, blocking a shot once every five Texas possessions on average. All-American Charli Collier, who’s projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, shot just 2 of 10, her worst shooting performance in more than two months.
All told, it added up to the fewest points scored by any team in the Elite Eight, Final Four or national championship in NCAA tournament history. And it continued a standout stretch on that side of the ball for South Carolina.
Through four games this tournament, South Carolina is averaging 105.3 points per 100 possession, an offensive rating that’s certainly good, but a touch shy of the most elite — in the past five years, more than 100 teams have averaged that mark over the course of an entire season, per Her Hoop Stats.
On defense, though, South Carolina’s tournament opponents are averaging just 74.05 points per 100 possessions. In the last half-decade, only five teams have been able to match that mark for a full season.
The old adage, “defense wins championships,” has been challenged by some analytically-minded experts. But on Tuesday at least, it won South Carolina a trip to the Final Four.
NCAA TOURNAMENT: NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
What: NCAA tournament Final Four
Who: No. 1 seed South Carolina vs. No. 1 seed Stanford
When: 6 p.m. Friday
Where: Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
Watch: ESPN
