Maryland coach sounds off on officiating after Sweet 16 loss to South Carolina
When asked how Friday’s officiating impacted her team in a Sweet 16 loss to South Carolina, Maryland coach Brenda Frese said she wasn’t going to go there.
But, in as many words, the Terrapins coach made it clear she wasn’t happy with how referees called the second half of the Gamecocks’ 71-67 win over Maryland in Birmingham. With the victory, USC advanced and will face Duke in the Elite Eight.
“I’ve continued to play South Carolina in the past, but it was a very physical game,” Frese said Friday at Legacy Arena. “We got to the free throw line quite a bit in the first half, and then all of the sudden it changed in the second half.”
Maryland shot 16 free throws in the first half and led South Carolina 32-31 at the break. The Terrapins only shot two free throws in the second half, and both came on a shooting foul in the third quarter. Maryland shot zero free throws in the fourth.
“Something changed,” Frese said, adding that she didn’t think the way her team was attacking the basket and “making plays” changed from the first half to the second.
That made the gist of her answer — and who she saw was at fault — clear.
“We just, for whatever reason, weren’t able to get to the free-throw line and that’s a big piece of who we are,” Frese said.
No. 1 USC trailed by as many as seven points in the second half and trailed No. 4 Maryland by one point, 60-59, with 3 minutes, 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter. USC responded with a 7-0 run, which put the Gamecocks in position to close out the game.
In discussing USC’s late push, Frese said it was “really impactful” when Maryland starting forward Allie Kubek fouled out with 3:07 left in the game. The Gamecocks made their run immediately after Kubek (12 points, team-best +5 plus-minus) left.
“Those were some impactful calls, taking her off the court,” Frese said, adding that late in the fourth quarter Maryland “kind of lost a little bit of our cool and our patience. I think we got fatigued. I thought their depth wore us out.”
Friday’s four-point win over Maryland was South Carolina’s closest result of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. It was also the first time the Gamecocks had faced a fourth-quarter deficit in March Madness this season.
Terrapins guard Shyanne Sellers said her team’s performance against USC was what she expected, even though Maryland entered as a 17.5-point betting underdog.
“People thought we were going to get crushed by 20,” Sellers said. “I think we set the record straight to stop doubting Maryland again and again.”
Added Frese: “We believed we could win this game. We showed that we could win this game, and I think we gave a pretty good blueprint on how to beat South Carolina, to be quite honest, for the teams moving forward.”
Staley reacts to refs
Maryland wasn’t alone in its officiating complaints.
During Friday’s game, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley had a number of animated conversations with the referees. The Gamecocks were called for a number of early fouls that drew criticism from fans in the arena and people on social media.
After one quarter, the foul discrepancy was 4-0 in favor of South Carolina (four calls called on USC, zero called on Maryland). At halftime, the foul margin was 11-5 USC.
The margin flipped in the second half. The foul differential was 4-3 toward Maryland in the third quarter and 10-4 Maryland in the fourth quarter. (Ahough a number of those were intentional, clock-stopping fouls in the game’s final minute.)
“The officials have a hard job,” Staley said. They have a really hard job. I don’t have thick enough skin to do their job.”
South Carolina’s coach added that her “animation was probably more (us) having a joking conversation rather than a heated conversation. They’re really good at communicating out there on the floor. That’s why they’re officiating in the Sweet 16.”
The finally tally for the game: 19 personal fouls on Maryland, 18 on South Carolina, 37 total personal fouls and a number of length replay reviews by the refs, including one to discuss a reach-in foul right before the final buzzer that drew boos.
For comparison’s sake: The USC-Maryland game had 37 combined fouls and lasted 2 hours, 16 minutes. The Duke-UNC game that directly preceded it in Birmingham (with a different officiating crew) had 23 total fouls and lasted 1 hour, 47 minutes.
Staley offered support for the crew postgame.
“They have to do that,” she said. “They’re being graded. They can’t just say, ‘OK, it’s 0.5 seconds, the game is in hand.’ They can’t do that. Because ignoring those situations will decrease their opportunity to go further in the NCAA Tournament.”
South Carolina’s next NCAA game
- Who: No. 1 South Carolina (33-3) vs. No. 2 Duke (29-7) in Elite Eight
- When: 1 p.m. ET Sunday
- Where: Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama
- TV: ABC
- Stream: Via watchespn.com or the ESPN app
This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 8:36 PM.
