LOS ANGELES — “USC” chants rained down in Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night. But it wasn’t for the University of Southern California, the school less than 2 miles away. Instead, it was for the one 2,403 miles across the country in South Carolina.
The second-ranked Gamecocks (4-0) took the inaugural title of “the Real SC,” beating the No. 8 Trojans 69-52 in the first of two matchups between the programs over the next few years.
But more important to South Carolina than claiming the honor was what the performance in Los Angeles said about the team. Returning just one starter from a year ago, the Gamecocks are finding their identity. Saturday night got them one step closer.
“We have seven players who have to play a different role for us than what they had with their previous school, or even with us. It’s hard,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “We’re used to having a core group of players that have played together for a long time. This year, Raven [Johnson] is basically the lone person that has been part of that regime. … I thought we put a [good] game plan together.”
Johnson is the only starter from last season, which saw South Carolina make it to the NCAA tournament championship game. On Saturday, she had 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, along with 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
With no Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, Sania Feagin and MiLaysia Fulwiley, and with Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts out for the season with injuries, Johnson is in a new veteran role with new responsibilities when it comes to leadership.
The Gamecocks are in a position where their guards, such as Raven Johnson and Tessa Johnson (14 points and five assists), are their most experienced players. South Carolina has long been a program fueled by its bigs.
Against USC, transfer center Madina Okot finished with 15 rebounds. As a team, the Gamecocks outrebounded the Trojans 56-32.
“She’s a big presence,” Johnson said. “What, 6-foot-7? Who’s going to drive in the paint?”
“I’m going to give a lot of credit to Madina,” Staley said. “She was where she needed to be and just from a confidence standpoint, knowing that we need her and knowing that she can execute a game plan — she is part of us finding our identity.”
As South Carolina has been searching for its identity through the early portion of the season, Staley has been looking at smaller samples within individual games; she hopes the Gamecocks can expand upon them to refashion their DNA.
“As coaches, we are striving for those perfect moments and have them play [those] for longer stretches of the game … know that these are some of the things we want to work toward,” Staley said after practice Friday. “This is what we want things to look like, and we’ll point that out.”
“When you are able to put those instances together for longer stretches, then you go into the game knowing that you’re going to get those things early on.”
That’s what the Gamecocks were able to do against USC (2-1), and now they feel they are one step closer to finding who they will truly be this season and what they are capable of.
