An unfazed No. 2 South Carolina isn’t letting injury slow them down, earning their season’s first Top 5 NCAA basketball win with a dominant 67-50 victory over No. 5 Texas on Sunday.
The Gamecocks’ trademark lock-down defense was in full force, holding the Longhorns to a field goal percentage of 27.8 despite Texas’s 22 forced turnovers.
“I would say with our team, they seem to really focus in when there’s a number beside our opponent, they practice a little better,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of her squad’s tough ranked schedule. “They’re more focused, they talk less. They knew the intangibles of this game would play a huge role in us winning or losing.”
Coming off an undefeated championship season, South Carolina has taken their knocks while also proving just how capable they are of a repeat win.
The Gamecocks saw their 43-game winning streak snapped by No. 1 UCLA in November before losing key contributor Ashlyn Watkins to an ACL tear earlier this month.
At the same time, South Carolina has now tallied five ranked wins on the season — four of them over Top 10 teams. The Gamecocks are looking comfortable as they enter a particularly grueling stretch of conference play, with…
