Holy Cow. Thought it was over when I saw the 49-32 halftime score. Just looked and it was 74-72.
WTH happened?
Raven with a huge 3 to pretty much seal it for SC.
Overlooked weaknesses of South Carolina is we don’t know how to step on a team’s throat when they’re down.
Think back to the UConn game. I’ve been on the other side of that when Geno had the nation’s best at home and we were the overmatched visitor. The Huskies pour it on and win those games by 35+. We lost focus, kind of dillied around, and ended up with an 18 point (or so, idk) margin that flattered the losing side.
It’s happened several times in SEC play, but usually results in a team losing by 25 instead of 50. So if you just check the final score, we seem to be rolling. But very rarely, a very talented team like Tennessee (down 23) or Indiana (22) doesn’t know they’re supposed to stop at make it respectable and gets a chance to win.
I think it’s 75% youth/25% coaching. Youth is obvious. This team is a year early. While they have been the nation’s best, they haven’t learned the coaching mantra of play every possession like you’re tied.
That’s where the coaching comes in. I have no doubt that Dawn says the right things and is concerned about it. But she is a little too worried about the other team’s feelings. We routinely run the shot clock to the final seconds for the last four or five minutes of blowouts. Multiple games we’ve scored 98 or 99 because we dribble out possessions with over a minute to play.
I don’t get it. I’m not saying press and RUTS (cough-cough
tigers), but I’ve always thought it’s more disrespectful to treat the other team like they deserve headpats and You tried! I’m proud of you! than to run your normal halfcourt offense and defense. Seems especially weird when you’re trying to teach the lesson of the previous paragraph.