USC finishes season with win before SEC tournament
During the 53-47 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks, they showed exactly why they have brought this team to contention in the SEC.
Tenacious defense, aggressive play and an undeniable attitude were just too much for the Razorbacks as South Carolina (21-8, 10-6 SEC) clawed back from an eight point deficit with 15 minutes to play in the second half.
Head coach Dawn Staley said the seniors have played a huge role in bringing the program to where it is now.
“These seniors have been through a 10-18 season and it didn’t feel good,” Staley said. “We all looked at things differently in that we wanted to turn that around. It took us committing to one another and to being a student-athlete in its totality, because it’s not just working on one thing or the other, it all has to work together. It also takes some time to mature and these seniors have put themselves in position to take this program to another level since I’ve been here.”
The Gamecocks started the game off with a rash of turnovers that put them in a hole where they struggled until 10 minutes had gone by in the second half. With eight turnovers in the first nine minutes, USC was giving Arkansas (21-7, 10-6 SEC) easy baskets that resulted in a 45.5 shooting percentage for the Hogs in the first half.
However, Sutton and junior Ashley Bruner carried the Gamecocks back into the game with 19 of the teams 24 points at halftime. Bruner finished the game with 15 points and eight rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end, and Sutton had a game-high 16 points.
“We got stops and made baskets, and we were all hyped, so that helped,” Bruner said. “On film we knew that they didn’t box out so my thing was that if they didn’t put a body on me, I was going to the glass.”
Added Sutton, “We have a three minute drill that we do in practice where it’s the first squad against the second squad and we have to go after it and get stops, and that really fired me up personally and I think it did the same thing for my team.”
The start of the second half looked much like the start to the game with the Gamecocks turning the ball over and Arkansas finishing fast breaks on the other end. With 14:58 left in the game, the Gamecocks found themselves down 38-30 after a La’Keisha Sutton turnover. It was at that point that Carolina turned it up defensively and went on a 14-4 run that gave USC its first lead of the game.
Arkansas head coach Tom Collen attributed the collapse to the job USC does in scouting their opponents.
“To their credit, they did what we wanted to do to them,” Collen said. “They kind of ran the ball at us off the dribble and got us back on our heels. They either got the layups or their post players got offensive rebounds, so that really hurt us. They do a tremendous job preparing, I think that’s the biggest thing they do defensively is their game prep for each team that they play. We ran this same stuff at Tennessee and scored 70-something points on them and we tried to run it again against South Carolina and couldn’t score.”
The Gamecocks held the Razorbacks to just five field goals in the second half on 20.8 percent shooting. On the other hand, USC shot 50 percent (13-26 from the field) in the second half.
“In the first half, they were playing off of our post players and clogging up the lane,” Staley said. “So we went into our 1-4 flat where we either go one-on-one or start up some dribble handoffs. We thought that opening the floor a little bit allowed us to attack the basket, and that is kind of what it was, allowing our players to make plays.”
This philosophy resulted in 42 of the 53 Gamecock points to come from within the paint. On the day, USC made just one 3-pointer.
“I think for us, we have a tendency to rely on outside shots, so when they’re not falling we don’t make the adjustments,” Staley said. “We wanted to score by way of our post players and by way of penetrating and getting offensive rebounds.”
With the win, the Gamecocks lock up the fifth seed in the SEC tournament, which starts Thursday. Staley addressed the crowd after the game, thanking them for their support throughout the season and telling them that “there is still a lot of basketball left to be played.”
“We have an opportunity to get in (to the NCAA tournament) by winning the SEC tournament, that is first and foremost,” Staley said. “Our resume speaks for itself.”