The Road to the Final Four: How one Thursday night saved a season and led to South Carolina's first national championship

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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

South Carolina was, relatively speaking, scuffling. Dawn Staley had already made one lineup change, replacing junior point guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore with freshman Tyasha Harris. South Carolina had lost two of its past three games, falling by double digits to UConn and then on a shocking buzzer-beater at Missouri. That loss, plus an earlier loss to Tennessee on a phantom foul call, had knocked South Carolina out of first place in the SEC.

South Carolina was a game behind Mississippi State with two games to play, although the Gamecocks had the tiebreaker. They needed help. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs finished at Kentucky and home against Tennessee, two games they were favored to win. South Carolina had a trip to Texas A&M and a home date with the Wildcats. Oh, and senior center Alaina Coates, the leading rebounder, third-leading scorer, and all-around enforcer, was out indefinitely with an ankle injury.

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The Game

After Coates and A’ja Wilson, South Carolina really only had one forward, freshman Mikiah Herbert Harrigan. So Staley went small. She replaced Coates with Cuevas-Moore, and then slid wing Allisha Gray to the four and guard Kaela Davis to the wing. It seemed like a desperate move against Texas A&M, known for its physical play in the post. 

South Carolina and Texas A&M played in the late slot. In the early slot, Kentucky had somehow managed to take Mississippi State to overtime, where the Wildcats pulled out a 78-75 victory. The fans and coaches knew the result (Staley chose not to share it with the team, although the players somehow found out during the game), which meant the Gamecocks once again controlled their own destiny. Except that they still had to beat the Aggies on the road without their second-best player.

The small lineup proved to be a stroke of genius. Wilson turned in a vintage performance with 21 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks, and three steals. Cuevas-Moore’s quickness provided a spark as she notched 16 points and a career-high six steals. Gray and Davis combined for 19 points, 17 rebounds, and six assists, while Herbert Harrigan tied her career-high with 13 points. The Gamecocks pulled away in the third quarter, and a pair of steals by Cuevas-Moore helped push the lead to 19 going into the fourth quarter.

“I just went out and played hard and it happened that I played very well,” she said the next day. “I think (Staley) knows I’m capable of playing both ends of the floor so I think she’ll use my scoring ability and my defensive ability as an advantage.”

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The Aftermath

South Carolina beat Kentucky three days later to clinch a share of the regular season championship, which became the outright title a couple of hours later when Tennessee shocked Mississippi State. 

Coates returned against Kentucky but aggravated her ankle injury. She made one more brief appearance in the SEC tournament, also against Kentucky, before being ruled out for the NCAA tournament. South Carolina would have to stick with the small lineup, but now it had confidence it could win that way.

“In becoming smaller, we wanted to play quicker,” Staley said following the Texas A&M game. “We wanted to get as many points in the paint as possible, just put Texas A&M back on their heels a little. I know they were looking for us to come in and run a lot more sets, but we wanted to just open the floor up and allow our players to attack the paint.”

Opponents never did catch up to what Staley was doing. Wilson had space to dominate, Cuevas-Moore continued to pester opponents, and despite taking a beating from bigger players, Gray held her own on defense while stretching the court on offense. 

In hindsight, the small lineup seems obvious. South Carolina would go on to win its first national championship and the Gamecocks’ relatively thin roster (they were down to seven rotation players) left few options. Wilson essentially rode the same four-out lineup to a WNBA championship last season, proving the lasting impact. But if Staley’s hand wasn’t forced on February 23, 2017, who knows what would have happened?

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