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Holly Rowe mistakes South Carolina's 'Sandstorm' tradition for 'Enter Sandman'

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•01/24/25
Holly Rowe
© Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Everyone loves a good sports blooper. Mistakes are inevitable in broadcasting, especially when you talk as much as many of these announcers do on a daily basis. And we got a gem on Friday night in the South Carolina-LSU women’s basketball game. One of South Carolina’s traditions since 2009 has been to blare the song ‘Sandstorm’ by Finnish DJ Darude. And with that song blaring in the background, ESPN’s Holly Rowe gave her halftime report on South Carolina, mistaking ‘Sandstorm’ for ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica, which would be the beloved theme song of the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Holly Rowe got two different songs confused

“Dawn Staley trying to get her team riled up. This place is going crazy in here. You know they have the ‘Enter Sandman’ I think they call it. It’s crazy. I don’t know what’s going on. Dawn Staley was really trying to get them to focus on getting them to rebound better. Take care of the basketball. Really have some composure to start the second half,” Rowe said.

The ESPN play-by-play announcer (Roy Philpott) quickly tried to correct her noting, “And it’s a Sandstorm brewing in Columbia,” before jumping back into the game action.

The South Carolina Gamecocks and LSU Tigers battled it out on Friday night, in one of the fiercer rivalries in women’s college basketball. And the Gamecocks came out on top with a 66-56 victory.

Second-ranked South Carolina stretched their lead into the third quarter, and they were never threatened down the stretch, as the Gamecocks prevailed in a battle of two top five teams in women’s college hoops. South Carolina handed LSU their first loss of the season.

Following the game, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley explained the critical adjustments they made to come out on top.

“We tried to eliminate easy buckets in transition. We turned the ball over. They scored on us. They were getting offensive rebounds. So, we just had to clean a little bit up. Not the rebounding part but we certainly cleaned up. Just being able to defend. Being able to disrupt. That’s the name of the game when you can’t put 70 points on the scoreboard,” Staley explained.