The Road to the Final Four: How a showdown with Kentucky made South Carolina the team to beat in 2020.

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Under Dawn Staley, South Carolina has made the Final Four four times in the last seven NCAA tournaments, and almost certainly would have made a fifth appearance had the 2020 tournament not been canceled. Each team had its own story – from upstart party crashers to an unlikely run to a wire-to-wire juggernaut – but there is one thing they all have in common. There was one game during the season that put the Gamecocks on their path to the Final Four.

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The Background

2019-20 is the season that stretches the theory. The Gamecocks were already a completed project by the time the season opened. They had a deep bench, but not so deep there could be any second-guessing about how the pieces fit together. There was one stumble in the Virgin Islands, a loss to Indiana, but the Gamecocks finished 2019 on cruise control.

South Carolina notched impressive wins over Purdue, Duke, and South Dakota in December, all fringe top-25 teams. But they weren’t big names that season. South Dakota was the best opponent, but the Coyotes don’t move the needle. So even though South Carolina was 12-1 and ranked fourth entering the new year, most of the country was sleeping on the Gamecocks. That was especially true of ESPN, which was more concerned with Sabrina Ionescu’s exploits at Oregon. ESPN’s roundtable preview of the game against #13 Kentucky game had Kentucky winning, suggesting South Carolina was overrated. Make no mistake, Kentucky was good. The Wildcats had Rhyne Howard, the eventual SEC Player of the Year, so confidence in Kentucky wasn’t misplaced. The lack of respect for South Carolina was the problem.

South Carolina fans knew the Gamecocks were good, but nobody expected to see what happened.

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The Game

Dawn Staley wasn’t going to let the other Wildcats beat her, and she wanted to attack Howard the way she always wants to attack scorers: make her play defense. Then, she wanted to keep a fresh player on Howard for 40 minutes. The offense was going to run through Brea Beal, whose career-high at that point was 11, plus she would have the most important defensive assignment in Howard.

South Carolina went to Beal on its first two possessions. Then, after Howard got switched onto Aliyah Boston, South Carolina went to her. Howard scored the first eight points for Kentucky, but she already had two of Kentucky’s five turnovers and the Gamecocks were up 17-8. As soon as Beal showed the first sign of fatigue, Staley plugged in LeLe Grissett, and vice versa.

The plan worked to perfection, and by halftime, South Carolina led 49-28, and Kentucky had as many turnovers as baskets. South Carolina continued to dominate in the second half, highlighted by a spectacular play to end the third quarter. With 3.5 seconds left, Kentucky tried to inbound to halfcourt. Victoria Saxton stole the pass, then passed to Zia Cooke, who fed Grissett for a buzzer-beating layup.

Kentucky made a desperate lineup change, shifting Howard to power forward to get her away from beal and Grissett. That enabled Howard to get her points – she finished with 28 – but Kentucky sacrificed any hope of slowing down South Carolina by doing so. South Carolina completely dominated every facet of the game and won 99-72, shot over 60% while holding Kentucky under 40%, and outrebounded the Wildcats 40-20.

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The Aftermath

Nationally, the win still didn’t register. ESPN named Howard player of the week, a clear sign that nobody involved had actually watched the game. But those who saw the game saw the Gamecocks flex their muscle from the opening tip and handle a top-15 opponent like a guarantee game. They could adapt to whatever an opponent’s strength was and eliminate it. There was the coaching, depth, versatility, and attitude to not just win, but dominate. Nobody was more impressed than Staley.

“I was talking to (assistant coach) Jolette (Law) on the bench, and I said I’m not going to drink the Kool Aid,” she said. “I tell our team when they play well. I tell our team that when we’re locked in we can probably beat anybody in the country. When we’re not… I coach from when we’re not. I coach on that edge of it not being perfect basketball and try to penetrate them with that. I don’t want their heads to get too big, but I also want them to be confident in what we’re doing.”

She knew, like everyone else who saw that game, that South Carolina was the best team in the country. It took a couple more weeks for the Gamecocks to ascend to the no. 1 ranking. It took a few more weeks for the national media – primarily ESPN – to finally recognize what was happening in Columbia. 

The Final Four, of course, never happened, so this this is a hypothetical. But if the tournament had been played, the Gamecocks would not have left the Palmetto State until the Final Four, and nobody thinks they would have lost.

Honorable mention: South Carolina 89, Mississippi State 79

Only one team the rest of the season even came close to beating South Carolina. Mississippi State led by nine early in the fourth quarter. Staley called a timeout, but the players did all the talking in the huddle. South Carolina stormed back. Tyasha Harris scored the last five points of the game, and then Cooke stole an inbounds pass with seconds remaining to secure the win. I – and many others – made Final Four reservations after that game.