This South Carolina team wasn’t supposed to be this good. Destiny had other plans
The environment at Pete Maravich Assembly Center Thursday night was comparable to an NCAA Tournament game, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley says. And for the No. 1 Gamecocks, it might as well have been the Final Four.
USC defeated No. 9 LSU 76-70 in front of a sold-out crowd (13,215 strong) in Baton Rouge after trailing by as many as 11 points. While the national championship game is still a couple months away, it feels almost unnecessary at this point. The 2024 title feels all but destined for the only remaining undefeated team in all of college basketball: South Carolina (17-0).
The Gamecocks’ hard-fought victory marked their 1,000th in program history and 10th in a row in games where they trailed by double digits (dating back to November 2021). It’s the longest active streak in Division I and has been maintained by three different teams.
“We’re gonna play for 40 minutes no matter what the score is,” Staley said. “No matter if we’re down double digits or up double digits big. We try to respect the game. We try to respect our opponents and try to figure out ways to close that gap.”
Staley talked after the game about how the game of basketball finds a way to repay those who’ve given it their all. This South Carolina team — which began 2023-24 with an entirely new starting five and ranked No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 — wasn’t supposed to be this good. But USC has given a lot to the game, and the game has given back.
During the summer, the Gamecocks appeared out of shape. Time they’d rather spend sharpening their skill sets and learning various schemes went toward conditioning instead. Outwardly, Staley advised folks to expect the unexpected, but inside she expected the worst.
The worst has yet to materialize. And with each passing victory — some by record-breaking margins and some by the tips of their fingernails — the worst seems increasingly unlikely.
“They’re a great team,” LSU sophomore Flau’jae Johnson said. “They got 6-7 in the paint (Kamilla Cardoso). They got a 60% shooter from the 3, (Te-Hina) Paopao. They got Bree Hall, who’s been playing very well from the 3, slashing, driving, just a great all-around player that can hit big shots in big moments like she did.
“They really stretch the floor for us. Our defense is five people guarding the ball, and it’s hard to do that when you got shooters. ... And down the stretch, they were tougher. They were tougher than us.”
Ask Staley and she’ll tell you hers is a “hard-nosed basketball team.” Their ability to climb out of the deepest deficits, despite their relative inexperience, is proof of such. They have a poise unlike any other team in the nation and the stats to prove it.
For a while it seemed LSU’s white-out home crowd had engulfed USC like raucous river rapids. But the Gamecocks fought through the frothy water, swam up for air and survived on one last deep breath.
They’re unsinkable.
This story was originally published January 26, 2024 at 8:00 AM.
