S.C. on Final Four opponents: 'We owe them one'

TAMPA, Fla. -- South Carolina has plenty of familiarity with the other teams in the Final Four -- the Gamecocks lost to all of them this season.

That has provided an even higher level of motivation as they attempt to repeat as national champions. South Carolina faces Texas on Friday for a fourth time this season. The Gamecocks already avenged their regular-season loss to Texas with a win in the SEC tournament championship game.

But on the other side of the bracket, South Carolina lost to UCLA and UConn in the regular season. South Carolina heads into the Final Four at 34-3, its most regular-season losses since 2020-21, when it had five.

"I think that motivates us to want to play better," MiLaysia Fulwiley said Thursday during media availability. "We didn't have our great games versus them, and the teams that we played had outstanding games. They couldn't miss. So it makes me hope and pray and feel like the roles are going to be reversed. We're going to be the ones not able to miss, and we're going to be the ones that lock in and play the better basketball.

"We just have to go out there and show that our best basketball has yet to come. So it motivates me because we owe them one."

Indeed, South Carolina enters the Final Four not playing its best basketball. The Gamecocks needed to rally to win their past three NCAA tournament games after playing inconsistently for large stretches in wins over Indiana, Maryland and Duke.

It was a stark contrast to how well South Carolina had played after the UConn loss in February, which ended its 71-game home winning streak. After that loss, South Carolina won its eight games by double digits and did not have to sweat it out in the fourth quarter.

Indiana had a lead at halftime in its second-round game, while Maryland and Duke had leads in the fourth quarter. Forward Chloe Kitts said the focus during the past few days of practice was playing with confidence.

"We know what we can do. We've done it before. We talked about individually, everybody needs to be confident. We're here for a reason. We play at South Carolina for a reason. We're at the Final Four for a reason. So we just need to believe in ourselves and believe in our team."

UCLA handed South Carolina its first loss of the season back in November, ending a 43-game winning streak. At the time, players said they were still learning how to play with each other after changes to their lineup. UCLA ended up with the No. 1 overall seed in part because of its head-to-head win over South Carolina in November. South Carolina lost to Texas in February in large part because it got into foul trouble, coach Dawn Staley said Thursday. But the Gamecocks also beat the Longhorns twice, and Staley said, "We're not going to stray too far left or right from the things that we've done that were positive that would help us."

The UConn loss was especially shocking because it came at home, and the 29-point loss was South Carolina's largest margin of defeat since 2008. South Carolina already has a rematch with Texas, and would get another no matter who wins between UConn and UCLA.

"This is our only opportunity to show the world that we just had an off game," Fulwiley said. "We have enough in the room to compete against these teams, and I think we didn't really show that the first time. So we have to lock in and just be true to ourselves and understand that it's going to take all 12 of us to walk out with those wins, and I think we will."