Scouting The Final Four: What Do Coaches Have To Say About South Carolina Vs. Texas?

They say beating a team three times in one season is one of the most difficult challenges in sports. But that’s what South Carolina hopes to accomplish Friday night in a meeting of No. 1 seeds in the Final Four. The Gamecocks and Texas have already met three times this season, with South Carolina winning Round 1, Texas winning Round 2 and the Gamecocks taking Round 3 in the SEC tournament championship last month.

Dawn Staley and Vic Schaefer know each other’s teams well by now. But what will be the difference in the end? How will each team tweak its strategy from previous matchups, if at all? And who needs to carry the load for either side to punch its ticket into Sunday’s national championship game?

asked opposing coaches who have faced South Carolina or Texas this season (and some, who have faced both) for their insight, granting them anonymity so they could speak with candor.

The big question: Will there be a big changeup in either’s game plan as they go at it in Part IV?

“I don’t think either one of them can surprise the other with a scheme,” said one coach. “And I just don’t think that’s who they are. Yeah, I think that game is going to come down to who is the best version of themselves.”

A second coach disagreed: “Vic will do something. He’ll make some sort of defensive adjustment. Dawn won’t — this is how we play, and we’re 100 percent about execution on both ends. She’s not going to change. She’s just not. And I have so much respect for that. … Vic will look at his film and see that South Carolina has success in one area or another, and he’ll try and make a slight adjustment. But you can’t reinvent the wheel. … South Carolina is gonna be South Carolina.”

Scouting South Carolina

Strengths: Depth, experience, transition game

Interestingly, one of the biggest challenges in facing South Carolina, according to some coaches who faced the Gamecocks this season, can also be a downfall for opponents. No, South Carolina doesn’t have an individual player who can be consistently relied upon to make the clutch shot. Rather, the program has a true committee of excellent players who can make plays when called upon. The Gamecocks’ 40.6 bench points per game lead the country and give Staley’s crew a notable advantage over the Longhorns, who average 26.6.

“South Carolina, I think, is the most athletic team in there. And they might be the most balanced,” said one coach.

Added another: “There were points in the season where it was like, you literally couldn’t double anybody. They can all score.”

Indeed, the Gamecocks have three players scoring double figures, starting with true freshman forward Joyce Edwards, who averages 12.7 points per game and shoots 54.1 percent. Sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley averages 11.9 PPG, and junior forward Chloe Kitts — playing some of her best basketball down the stretch — comes in next at 10.4 PPG. South Carolina has more depth than anyone in the country.

Then, there’s the experience factor. The Gamecocks have won national championships in two of the past three seasons and are playing in their fifth consecutive Final Four — meaning nearly every player on the roster has competed on this stage before. One coach said that how Staley has recruited players and maintained her roster, while not having a true star, is a product of so many of the Gamecocks buying into that mentality that’s fully focused on one thing: winning championships. Even if that comes at the cost of individual accolades and stardom.

“They all know what the job is when you sign up,” said one coach. “Their only goal is to win it. And they know that. So, what the rest of us see as sacrificing, they don’t see it as sacrificing. They go to win it.”

Weaknesses: Interior play, 3-point shooting consistency

The Gamecocks’ three national titles have come when the program has an elite interior presence, as illustrated by the team’s Most Outstanding Player award in each — 2017, A’ja Wilson; 2022, Aliyah Boston; and 2024, Kamilla Cardoso. However, if there’s a notable knock on the Gamecocks this season, it has to be down low.

“South Carolina’s post play is where I think you can take advantage. If they have a weakness, it’s probably in the post without any legitimate size like you’re used to with them,” one coach said. “And I think they’re suspect from outside at best.”

Added another: “The holes are, obviously, the interior. You don’t have a bucket that you can just go to on the inside, and especially with Texas’ size. So if they’re struggling, like they’ve been struggling in the last couple games, just shooting the ball, then Texas can get them.”

South Carolina is 28-1 when it out-rebounds opponents and 31-0 when it outscores opponents in the paint. But whereas Staley’s championship teams in the past could easily feed Wilson, Boston or Cardoso, the Gamecocks don’t have that obvious force in the post this year.

In addition, they also haven’t been as consistent from deep as last season when they won their third national title. Last season, South Carolina shot 39.5 percent from beyond the arc — the third best among teams nationally. This season, although they’ve returned all of their best 3-point shooters from last year, that number has dipped to 33.7 percent from long range.

“They’ve got to see a couple go in,” a coach said. “They’ve got to play off each other.”

X-factor(s): Te-Hina Paopao and MiLaysia Fulwiley

How Paopao and Fulwiley play may be the Gamecocks’ difference-maker.

After shooting 46.8 percent from 3 last season, Paopao’s numbers are down this year. The senior guard shoots 36.1 percent from deep and 44.2 percent from the field.

“If she can get going, I think she makes them exponentially better when she hits shots from outside,” one coach said.

Fulwiley may be even more important. The sophomore guard was sensational against Maryland in the Sweet 16 with 23 points and five rebounds, only to follow it up with five points and four turnovers against Duke in the Elite Eight.

“Fulwiley, to me, is the X-factor,” one coach said. “Sometimes she has great games. Sometimes I think she gets in Dawn’s doghouse and doesn’t even get the minutes that you might prepare for. When she’s out there, getting steals and grabbing rebounds and bringing it down and converting it, they’re really a different team.”

Scouting Texas

Strengths: Madison Booker, size, close-game experience, defensive intensity

The Longhorns’ biggest advantage? They have Booker.

The SEC Player of the Year is one of the tournament’s hardest-to-guard players, scoring 16.5 points per game with 6.8 rebounds. She has only leveled up in the tournament, averaging 18.8 points with eight boards and a 50.8-percent mark from the field in four tournament games. But in her three games against the Gamecocks, she was also the bellwether.

“Obviously, Booker is a bucket,” one of the coaches said. “She’s going to have to step up.”

In the Longhorns’ two losses, she averaged 8.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists and shot 22 percent from the floor while only getting to the free-throw line twice. In their win over South Carolina, Booker’s stat line read: 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, 32 percent from the floor, 6-of-7 shooting from the free-throw line.

The Longhorns also have a size advantage on the interior with 6-foot-4 starting forward Taylor Jones and 6-6 reserve center Kyla Oldacre. Jones, the Longhorns’ second-leading scorer, averages 12.1 PPG and 6.9 rebounds. Perhaps most impressive, she has 70 blocks on the season — tied for 16th nationally.

“I think Taylor is important for them. They need to establish her. They’re pretty physical,” one coach said. “If you got depth in the post and the point guard, that’s huge in the postseason.”

Texas has also been clutch in close games, winning all five of its games decided by five points or fewer. The problem? All three of Texas’ losses are by double digits — including falling to South Carolina by 17 points in January and 19 points in March.

One big reason the Longhorns win those close games is because of the defensive intensity they play with from the jump.

“It’s like going to the dentist, the proctologist and the IRS — all those people the same day,” said another coach. “It’s a miserable 40 minutes against those guys. On offense, everything is contested. You have to be so locked in against them. It’s a relentless 40 minutes.”

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Scouting the Final Four: What do coaches have to say about South Carolina vs. Texas?

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