Staley, South Carolina appear poised to make another title run

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — On the stat sheet, maybe No. 5 Texas should have beaten defending national champion South Carolina.

The Longhorns had 20 offensive rebounds, they had 28 more shot attempts and forced 22 turnovers — and yet still managed to lose by 17 points in a game that was never really close. It all left Texas coach Vic Schaefer perplexed in his post-game news conference, and wondering aloud how coach Dawn Staley's team ever lost to No. 1 UCLA earlier this season.

Then again, he's seen this before from.

“South Carolina just has an edge to them,” said Schaefer, who fell to 3-14 against Staley's Gamecocks. “They play with an edge. ... Those (great) teams have the ‘it’ factor, they play with an edge and with an attitude — the attitude of the dog gets the bone.”

South Carolina used that edge on Sunday to hammer fifth-ranked Texas 67-50 in traditional Staley-coached fashion, using defense and grit to hold Longhorns AP Preseason All-American Madison Booker to seven points on 3-of-19 shooting from the field.

Texas shot 28% from the field.

The Gamecocks (16-1, 4-0 SEC) have won three of the past seven national championships in women's Division I college basketball using a similar formula, including last year's victory over the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes.

Now they could be poised to win another.

South Carolina looks every bit as dangerous as some of Staley's previous teams despite losing Ashlyn Watkins to a season-ending torn ACL last Sunday.

"I think they are product of who we are," Staley said of her players. “They like each other. The teams that we have had that have had really good chemistry and success, they like each other. They want to play for each other and want each other to only look good and hold each other accountable. This team is in line with that.”

Said South Carolina's Bree Hall: Bree: “We play for each other. When we play for each other, things just fall right into place."

That doesn't mean Staley is without concern as her team navigates a brutal slate of five consecutive games against Top 25 opponents, including No. 6 LSU on Jan. 23.

She said this year's team has issues that need to be addressed.

But she's optimistic that it has not reached its full potential by any stretch.

“In the years that we have been successful we have been a great rebounding team and we have been an efficient field goal shooting team,” said Staley, whose teams won national championships in 2017, 2022 and 2024. “We're not there yet. You look at the NCAA numbers and we're around 12 (in the country) and you need to be one or two, or at least in the top five in those categories."

But what South Carolina lacks in those areas, they make up for in others.

There is an unselfishness about them.

On Sunday, no South Carolina player had more than 11 points, and 10 different women contributed in various roles to the victory. They share the ball, regularly making the second and third pass that leads to a better shot.

“It isn’t about who is the leading scorer, that’s a team over there,” Schaefer said.

Standing in the way of a third title in four seasons could be the unbeaten Bruins.

UCLA handed the Gamecocks their only loss of the season 77-62 in late November in Los Angeles, ending South Carolina's 43-game winning streak. But Staley's team hasn't missed a beat since, rattling off 11 straight wins and proving again Sunday it has the depth to win another championship.

Schaefer said that's a tribute to Staley and her program.

“Their competitive spirit just oozes in the arena and they just play with a real toughness to them," Schaefer said. "And toughness is not just physical, its the mental piece, too. ... We got uncomfortable today, and we did a lot of uncharacteristic things — but that is what a team like that will do to you.”

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