Is the South Carolina playing with the fire in an attempt to repeat as a champion?

Birmingham, Ala.-Milaysia Fullwiley was dribbling the last seconds of the 71-67 victory of the southern Carolina of South-Seme, when her dribbling move behind the beat was taken away from her. In an attempt to regain possession, Fullwiley was whistled for a foul. For a moment, it is not clear if it remained at any time. Gamecocks coach Dawn Stayy and the terrapins coach Brenda Fresse thought that the game was over and embraced in the middle of the field.

The officials examined the time of Maryland’s foul, however, and returned half a second on the time trial. The celebrations were paused. The southern Carolina should have waited even longer to march his fifth eight consecutive.

It was an end suitable for the victory of the Gamecocks that was missing from the freshness that many expected from them. Dryblage has also become complicated for the gamecocks against the fourth seed embankments.

“It’s not cute, it’s all I have to say,” said the second year guard Johnson.

The performance raised the question: was it the performance of Friday simply a blip on the Gamecocks path to win the Back-to-Back championships? Or was it a heartbreaking notice that this year’s team could be stopped short of its goals?

“It’s bad? Yes,” said Stley. “People say that this does not seem a team from the national championship? Well, I mean, we have not resembled last year at most at the beginning of the season.” Yet the South Carolina survived a close victory of the tournament over the Indiana, remained unbeaten and still won a national title.

Two years earlier, the gamecocks were mostly rolled to a championship. But in 2017, as noted by Staley, they were a team of four losses that made its way to a title. Each race has its own characteristics.

The bad wins are part of March. The great teams find resilience and enhance the victories when they don’t play the best. But for the second consecutive game, the Gamecocks were behind halfway.

Put that Thang Lo Lay !! pic.twitter.com/otleuz2ug1

– South Carolina women’s basketball (@gamecockwbb)) March 28, 2025

Against the embankments, the Gamecocks have guided only three more minutes of what they have not followed. Among the 7:14 of the fourth quarter of 2:55 remaining, the South Carolina shot only 1 in 9. The gamecocks were playing with fire. They were not burned on Friday, but “that game was definitely a little disordered,” said the striker of the serial number Joyce Edwards.

“We looked like (a champion) in ’22,” said Stley. “‘(In) ’17, we did not look like it. I think we went back to where we don’t look like one, and we hope to be able to win it and even of it.”

But Hope Alone will not be good enough for Gamecock to achieve their goals. They could be able to collect another victory over Duke of second seed on Sunday if they don’t play their a-game. The Blue Devils hit their own victory in the Sweet 16, shooting 31 percent while holding North Carolina for only 38 points in a 40 -minute match. But a title?

It looks more soft for the gamecocks, which entered the NCAA tournament with three losses. It is an incredible season for most of the teams, but they are their most defeated since 2021.

Edwards recognized that the embankments developed the South Carolina on Friday. Sometimes, Maryland has doubled the big names of the South Carolina, interrupting the flow of the Gamecocks offense which is strongly based on its frontcourt. Dozens of dozen passes of the South Carolina have been diverted – some stolen, some quite inclined to fit the times on the cuts. The teams were called 37 combined fouls, leading to countless interruptions. The last 35 seconds of the game lasted more than 15 minutes in real time.

The South Carolina is followed by 7 points at the beginning of the third quarter. Down 6 with 4:37 to play in the frame, it went on a 7-0 race, launching the slight deficit in an advantage of 1 point. Among the sprint, Fullwiley hit a layup and helped one of the other baskets. The 5 feet guard-10 closed with 23 points and three assists. It was one of the few players who hit Maryland’s defense with relative ease.

“We would prefer to stay here longer than we want rather than being at home,” Fullwiley said. “Nothing is long when you are a March Madness.”

Except for the CAROLOLINA DEL SOUTH AT FINAL FOUR. Those usually last weeks of victory – and often include securities of the seco tournaments and bursts of the NCAA tournament.

But maybe their successes this season will be at all. Against Indiana in the round of 32 and Maryland in the Sweet 16, very little has come easily. Even a free shot from Bree Hall with 21.6 remaining seconds that froze the game, entered and released and again inside.

Frese, like Staley, is a national title -winning coach. He later spoke of the pride he tried in his players. Like the South Carolina, the embankments were resistant both during the regular and Friday season, fighting for 40 minutes in front of a decidedly pro-gamecock crowd. But while Fresse reflected that Maryland is sent by the NCAA tournament, he also commented on another possible aspect of his inheritance.

“I think we have given a fairly good project on how to beat the South Carolina, to be honest, for the teams that go on,” he said.

Maryland packed the paint and kept the South Carolina for only 8 second -time points. The embankments attacked the basket aggressively, especially in the first half when they attempted 16 free shots. They forced 18 turnover, transforming the tributes of the South Carolina into 18 points.

Of course, in March, the only thing that matters is the final margin.

“We are at the next,” said Johnson. “You will have bad wins, but this happens in basketball.”

Gamecocks will fight for another day and should not yet be played alarms. Instead, the players of the South Carolina spoke of watching movies and finding ways to improve.

After a 4 -point victory, which linked their second victory marty in a game of the NCAA tournament since 2015, the Gamecocks expressed a different emotion together with the joy of moving forward.

“I was also raised,” said the attacker Senior Sania Feagin. “We were down of half the entire game. We can no longer do it.”

Or the South Carolina season will have a brusque end.

(Photo of Dawn Stley: Carmen Mandate / Getty Images)