South Carolina is ‘The Real SC’

Los Angeles, CA (News 4 Us Online) – The USC Trojans put up a valiant effort against No. 2 South Carolina for a half. Then the ship began to sink in the third quarter. 

After getting to within two points at the half against the Gamecocks, the Trojans, ranked eighth in the nation, saw its homecourt advantage give way to South Carolina’s height and the Gamecocks dominated the last two quarters of play to come away with a 69-52 win at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, California. 

“I think it’s easier to figure out how to get really good when we’re challenged,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said afterward during a postgame press conference.  

“We learned a lot of things about ourselves against NC State. I think we’ll learn, hopefully, equally, if not more, tonight, about what we can be really good at. And what we need to get a lot better at, but it is a process we have. We have [kind of] everyone doing something new.” 

One of the things that the Trojans learned was that height does matter. South Carolina finished the game with 56 rebounds and scored 44 points in the paint. USC managed just 28 points in the paint, a differential of 16 points. The Gamecocks also had seven blocked shots.

This game was won and lost in the third and fourth quarters. After shooting 26 percent from the field in the second quarter, South Carolina made 47 percent of its shots in the third quarter. The Gamecocks then converted 50 percent of its field goal attempts in te final period. 

For USC, the second half proved to be forgettable. The Trojans shot 35 percent in the third quarter and just 21 percent in the fourth period. South Carolina outscored USC 23-15 in the third and 14-7 in the final quarter. 

Despite the loss, Gottlieb was happy her team took part of a special night to mark the growth of women’s college basketball. USC normally plays its home games at Galen Center, but the game was moved to Crypto.com Arena.

The Trojans’ matchup against South Carolina, dubbed “The Real SC” was significant, Gottlieb said.  

“A great atmosphere, games we want to be a part of,” Gottlieb remarked. “We want these games to teach us where we need to be and where we need to get to. Credit South Carolina, they did a lot of things well… I saw things from our team I really liked. Not yet where we need to be but this game will help us get there.”