SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Facing one of many solely two groups that beat it in the course of the common season, South Carolina does not view its Sweet 16 matchup with Oklahoma as a revenge game.
“It’s not really about getting a lick back,” South Carolina senior Raven Johnson mentioned.
The Sooners handed the Gamecocks an additional time loss in Norman again in January — a game that noticed Oklahoma battle again from a seven-point halftime deficit, tie the game at regulation, after which dominate the additional interval. Freshman Aaliyah Chavez had a breakout efficiency, scoring 15 of her 26 factors in additional time, the place the Sooners outscored the Gamecocks 19-7 total.
“We’re not motivated by avenging a loss,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley mentioned. “We’re motivated by advancing. It’s not like, oh, they beat us last time, let us do this or that. It’s survive and advance.”
South Carolina has dominated its opponents by means of the primary two rounds of the NCAA match, scoring 100 factors in each video games. It’s the primary time in program historical past the Gamecocks have scored greater than 100 factors in the identical match.
“I don’t think we tweak from what we didn’t do the last time,” Staley mentioned. “I think we tweak from where we want to play in a tournament and the things that we need to do to stay organized.”
Both South Carolina and Oklahoma mentioned they watched movie from their final matchup, however there’s an understanding that each groups really feel they’re totally different than the place they had been two months in the past.
That January win ended a three-game skid for the Sooners. For them, that win was much less about beating the beast that’s South Carolina and extra about what it signaled for his or her youthful group.
“The emotion didn’t come from the win of a game. The emotion came because we’re a young team trying to navigate life together,” Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk mentioned. “…That emotion was because of how we played. And when you play like that, then sometimes that scoreboard is on your side.”
Built round seniors Raegan Beers and Payton Verhulst, this Oklahoma group is not new, however the Sooners are studying play with their younger level guard in Chavez.
“I was getting sped up at earlier in the game, but I ended up getting to be more myself,” Chavez instructed ESPN, reflecting on their first matchup of the 12 months. “That game, I learned a lot about myself and about our team.”
Last 12 months’s journey to the Sweet 16 was the Sooners’ first time previous the second spherical of the match since 2013. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks have made it to this stage yearly since 2014.
“They’re one of the standards in women’s basketball,” Beers mentioned.
“You don’t get just this year’s team. You get the history of South Carolina. You get their experience that’s unmatched,” Baranczyk mentioned. “They’re a team that’s used to the moment. And you never get to play this year’s team at this time; you’re playing a lot of history there.”
Representing extra than simply their present group is one thing the South Carolina gamers are reminded of practically day by day. It’s not one thing they discuss, however whether or not it is strolling by A’ja Wilson‘s statue outdoors of the Colonial Life Arena on campus, seeing the championship banners hanging within the rafters, or seeing the variety of former gamers who’ve turn into stars within the WNBA, it is all the time current.
“We look at those and that kind of reminds us what the legacy that’s been here,” Johnson mentioned. “We’re playing more than just for us.”
Sophomore Joyce Edwards added, “It’s not something I individually think about when playing because I just want to win, just like probably they did. But the culture and the expectation is there only because they paved the way for us to be in this position and to be a winning program.”
Even with all of that historical past, the Gamecocks attempt to keep grounded within the second. They do not need to replicate an excessive amount of –whether that’s the applications that preceded them, or video games that they dropped just like the one to Oklahoma.
And the Sooners are in the identical boat. They know they’re solely dealing with this iteration of South Carolina — a workforce they’ve crushed earlier than. But Saturday’s game may be very totally different from the one they performed again residence in January.
“You can’t be scared,” Oklahoma junior ahead Sahara Williams mentioned of dealing with the Gamecocks. “They’re a really good team, but we’ve got to show up with the will to win and the mentality that you have to outwork everyone.”
