On the sideline coaching a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 4 seed Maryland, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley didn’t look like her usual vibrant self. She was somber, and her face calculated.
Her South Carolina Gamecocks team found itself behind ― again. In back-to-back March Madness performances, South Carolina was down at halftime. It happened while playing the No. 9 seed Indiana Hoosiers in the second round, and Maryland, despite having just a two-point lead at halftime, had the defending champs on the ropes, too. South Carolina looked frazzled, rattled even, and no one was coming to save them from their mountain of first-half blunders.
At the very minimum, the Terrapins seemingly figured out a framework that forced the Gamecocks to abandon their high-intensity brand of basketball, which leans heavily on a defense that creates transition points and an offense that breaks down opponents one painful shot at a time. When the third quarter arrived, a visibly frustrated Staley was still encouraging her players when, slowly, a possession at a time, they forced several stops.
Then, as the Gamecocks inched into the fourth, guard MiLaysia Fulwiley came alive.
Milaysia Fulwiley’s electric day saves South Carolina
Fulwiley is a walking highlight reel. At any moment, one of her sensational baskets or behind-the-back passes could end up on SportsCenter. However, she was more than a viral clip for South Carolina on Friday. She was their savior.
Her 23 points off the bench were a game high and included 16 in the second half. ‘When you have a dynamic player like MiLaysia, you put the ball in her hands,’ Staley said postgame. ‘And you allow her to just create her magic, and she did that for us today.’
Magic feels very fitting for what it would take to erase the rolling ball of first-half mistakes by South Carolina and move the Gamecocks to the next round. There were terrible shots and not nearly enough ball movement, and the Gamecocks let Maryland practically get any look they wanted.
By the game’s end, four Terappins were in double figures, and one of the few saving graces outside of Fulwiley was that forward Chloe Kitts found some more points to add to the final total. Maryland also lost some of its Cinderella magic and turned into a pumpkin, giving up the ball five times as time wound down.
South Carolina is dangerously close to a March Madness upset
Still, it’s hard to ignore that if not for some heroics, South Carolina would be left stunned, wondering what happened to their repeat championship. Fortunately, they’re continuing on to the Elite Eight, where they’ll face No. 2 seed Dule at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC.
‘We know that if we play like that again, we’re going home,’ senior Te-Hina Paopao said. ‘It’s just something that we don’t want to experience again, and it’s something that we know we can do better, and we can do a better job to our standard.’
‘The underestimated is dead,’ Kitts explained. ‘We should not be underestimating anybody … We just need to remember who we are and go out there and play like it’s our last.’
Kitts nailed the overarching sentiment that South Carolina needs to understand. The Gamecocks are the reigning national champions and can compete with any team. That said, the field has adjusted, and whatever target is already on their backs has seemingly grown in size overnight.
‘I just think anytime you are coming off a national championship, you are the targeted one. Everybody ― everybody ― wants to knock you off your throne,’ Staley said postgame.
‘With this particular team, they’ve never been in that situation where they’ve won, and then they gotta defend the championship. And we went undefeated so they tend to forget … We had some close moments of losing that they just kind of tuck those moments away.’
Unfortunately, South Carolina can’t sweep those moments under the rug. The Gamecocks won’t keep getting away with so many hijinks. The ugly is staring the team in the face, daring the players to address it or face the consequences. If the Gamecocks aren’t careful, another team will gladly snatch their crown and walk off into the sunset as if that was the plan the whole time.