What went wrong in South Carolina’s SEC loss to Texas? One factor loomed large
Any time South Carolina and Texas play each other, the game is reminiscent of a fight between two heavyweight champions. The teams are typically locked in a stalemate for most of the game, trading blow after blow before somebody pulls away late.
While USC has had the edge in the series recently (see wins last year in the SEC Tournament title game and the Final Four), the stars of the basketball world aligned in Texas’ favor this time around. The Longhorns beat South Carolina 78-61 on Sunday to win their first SEC Tournament championship.
Texas punched first. And that first punch was hard.
Head coach Vic Schaefer’s team started the 2026 SEC Tournament championship game on a 14-0 run. The Longhorns were a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor to begin the game and forced five early turnovers.
“Whoever hit first was gonna ultimately win that game,” USC’s Ta’Niya Latson said. “And they did.”
Dawn Staley has never been one to call a timeout when her team is on the opposite end of a big run. Like every other game, she opted to let her players try and play through it. But at the 6:47 mark of the first quarter and facing a 14-0 deficit, she’d seen enough and called the timeout.
Believe. That was Staley’s message in the ensuing huddle, USC veteran guard Raven Johnson said. And while the Gamecocks might have found some temporary inspiration, they struggled for most of the game.
South Carolina made just four shots in the first quarter and was outscored 27-12 in the period. That didn’t improve much in the second quarter, as Texas’ 45-28 lead was the biggest halftime deficit was the largest South Carolina had seen in an SEC Tournament game under Staley. USC couldn’t get to within less than 11 points of the lead for the remainder of the game.
“What transpired afterwards is just, I think, mental fatigue,” Staley said. “And that’s something that you’re just gonna have to deal with. I thought our players just weren’t mentally there, like sharp. Obviously, physically, they weren’t there either because we played a lot of minutes.”
Fatigue was a common theme in South Carolina’s postgame locker room interviews Sunday. Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson and Agot Makeer all mentioned it as a reason for the slow start and eventual loss.
“Our legs were dead,” Latson said. “...We played a tough game yesterday against LSU, and then before that Kentucky. But, I mean, it’s the name of the game, and (Texas) also played Ole Miss before us.”
South Carolina had nine players touch the court in the loss, and six of them played more than 20 minutes. All but one of South Carolina’s starters played at least 23 minutes.
Star forward Joyce Edwards played a team-high 35 minutes against Texas after playing 39 minutes on Saturday against LSU in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
“We just didn’t play well.” Staley said. “I mean, they were moving pretty fast, and we weren’t moving as quickly as they were. When you think about it, maybe there’s a little fatigue. We’ve had depth when we got to this point, played our starters some heavy minutes. So you’ve got to look at that and maybe think that contributed to it.
“A little mental fatigue, physical fatigue. But when you’re not hitting on all cylinders, like Texas, you’re going to feel it in every category.”
Raven Johnson, who played 27 minutes in the loss, said she didn’t want to use fatigue as an excuse but acknowledged that it played a factor for the Gamecocks.
“I don’t want to say fatigue, but maybe fatigue,” Johnson said. “...They came out with a lot of energy, they were hunting us. They were blowing up our plays, and we’ve played them 50 million times. They know all our plays. They know all our schemes. ... I think we need to get back to the drawing bad and [take] the good with the good and the bad with the bad.”
Both Latson and Johnson emphasized how important physical recovery will be before the NCAA Tournament begins later this month. South Carolina played three games in three days for the SEC Tournament and will have to play two games in three days (three times) if it advances to the national championship game.
The March Madness selection show is 8 p.m. Sunday, March 15 on ESPN.
“We won a national championship the last time we lost in the SEC championship,” Johnson said. “It’s a new group. It’s their first time being in this moment. ... It was a great experience for them, a great experience for me. I think we learned that we need to get a little mentally tough. We need to get tougher there. I think we’re gonna get back to the drawing boards and learn from our mistakes.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2026 at 7:13 PM.
