South Carolina has cruised to a 4-0 record in the SEC. Here’s what we learned from the sweep of the Texas teams, including a statement win over the no. 5 Longhorns.

1. The offense is fixed

After the loss to UCLA, I wrote that South Carolina’s offense was broken. Here’s what I wrote the next day:

“There were frequent possessions on Sunday when I would watch an offensive possession and have no clue what the Gamecocks were trying to accomplish.”

I added that it was fixable, and they have definitely fixed it. Since the Christmas break, South Carolina has scored 93, 83, 95, 90, and 67 points. The last game was the best proof of how far they come. 

Even when scoring 67, the Gamecocks shot 71% in the first half and 51% for the game. Despite committing a season-high 22 turnovers, Dawn Staley was happy with the offense.

“It’s all about taking good shots,” Staley said. “I think you can have a night, as far as having as many turnovers as we had, with taking good shots, you lose games taking bad shots. And for us, we were finally getting to that point where we’re taking better shots, and we’re taking rhythm shots, and it’s paying off, especially in the game like this.”

South Carolina has found its identity. Spread the floor, move the ball around, and run the floor. They sprinkle in some post-ups with Joyce Edwards and Chloe Kitts, but mostly, they play face-up basketball and get open looks by moving the ball around.

2. The defense is still elite

While the offense struggled earlier in the season, Staley consistently said she wasn’t worried about the defensive end of the court. The performance didn’t always back that up, but it is now. 

Texas entered Sunday’s game with one of the best offenses in the country: sixth in field goal percentage (49.6%), first in free throws made and attempted (19.2/25.4), fourth in scoring offense (90.4 points), and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.34).

The Gamecocks held the Longhorns to 27.8% shooting, 5-10 free throws, 50 points, and a 0.58 assist-to-turnover ratio. All were season-lows.

[South Carolina-LSU WBB: Win tickets]

South Carolina did it without Ashlyn Watkins, the Gamecocks’ best defender. So what’s working? 

It starts with all the athletically gifted defenders South Carolina has, but the key to defense is effort and commitment. Nobody exemplifies that more than MiLaysia Fulwiley. Her focus wanders at times, but latel,y she has been locked in.

It was on display in the third quarter. After a Texas flop drew a charge on Chloe Kitts, Staley called Fulwiley over. From their body language, it was clear Staley told her to go get the ball back (it’s not on the broadcast so you’ll have to take my word for it). Fulwiley initially knocked the ball away from Rori Harmon, and then after Harmon recovered, drew the offensive foul. 

“When Lay’s locked in, she impacts it on both sides of the basketball,” Staley said. “I would like for her to really understand her power from a defensive standpoint. So we’re always encouraging her. The only reason why she comes out of the game is her not defending.”

3. Watkins has become South Carolina’s rallying point

Let’s make one thing crystal clear: There is no way, shape, or form in which the Gamecocks are a better team without Ashlyn Watkins.

But…

Losing Watkins seems to have given her teammates something to rally around. Last season was all about the Revenge Tour, even for the players who weren’t around two seasons ago. The Repeat Tour clearly didn’t carry the same weight this season.

Now the other frontcourt players know they need to step up and Staley said they are playing more “free.” The guards, like Fulwiley, seem more committed to playing all-around basketball. They’ve found the proverbial chip on their shoulder.

“I’m really proud of them,” Staley said. “They’re playing together. They’re playing for Ashlyn. They’re playing to make sure people don’t look at us as not contenders.”

“The biggest thing for us is we play for each other,” Bree Hall said.

COLUMBIA — Senior guard Bree Hall spent most of Saturday night on YouTube.

She was watching Madison Booker highlights, watching how she moves, getting extra studying in before her big test on Sunday, where she had to guard the sophomore star for No. 6 Texas.

Hall passed the test.

Hall locked down Booker for 40 minutes and never let her get comfortable in Colonial Life Arena, guiding No. 2 South Carolina women’s basketball to a 67-50 win over the Longhorns (16-2, 3-1 SEC).

Booker, who came into Sunday averaging 14.9 points, finished with seven on 3-of-19 shooting from the field.

“My teammates and the coaching staff really put a lot of confidence in me,” Hall said. “Trusting myself and I also made sure I trusted my defense on the help side.”

Hall forced Booker into tricky shots, face guarded her and didn’t provide help off Booker too much. If a guard wanted to drive and dish to Booker, that option would be met with tight coverage. Booker went 0-of-8 from the floor in the first quarter. By halftime, she was 1-of-14.

Eliminating Texas’ leading scorer early was essential for the Gamecocks (16-1, 4-0), setting the tone from the start that every basket Booker wanted, she would have to earn.

Hall logged zero steals, but one steal specifically that went to MiLaysia Fulwiley happened because of Hall. With six minutes left in the third, Booker drove toward the left corner but Hall stayed low and went with her, channeling her in the direction of Fulwiley who stripped the ball for a fast break layup.

The stat sheet didn’t fully depict the job that Hall did on offense, as her seven points weren’t the highest on the team but were still some of the most important, like a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, when Texas had cut the lead to 13.

“I thought today she just put it all together for us,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said of Hall. “The pace that she was playing with, the focus, and offensively, she hit a big shot, she hit a big 3-pointer … she’s always ready, she’s playing like the senior we expected.”

With 5:02 left in the second, Hall cut back door and although the bounce pass was a bit in front of Hall, she chased it down under the basket and drew defenders. She then hit senior forward Sania Feagin at the top of the key who quickly found freshman Joyce Edwards for the open layup and foul.

“We call those hockey assists,” Staley said with laughter. “We need (Hall) making more of those decisions.”

South Carolina’s Sania Feagin provides inside presence

The stat sheet did accurately show the impact of Feagin, who not only found Edwards on that pass but she logged two more assists to go with six blocks, nine rebounds and eight points. Feagin was dominant on offense from the start, hitting back-to-back jumpers to open the game when Taylor Jones played off her.

Besides Booker and star point guard Romi Harmon, who South Carolina point guard Raven Johnson held to nine points, the Longhorns had size to deal with as well.

Feagin protected the rim and forced a lot of off balance baskets, while playing help side defense when a guard slipped by the initial defender.

FULWILEY FEATURE: Why Steph Curry sees his game in MiLaysia Fulwiley and is helping South Carolina star get even better

“She had a pretty good game from a statistical standpoint but all the other stuff, the intangibles,” Staley said of Feagin. “She kept her feet above the bigs, she was communicating and directing.”

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

The script was there. South Carolina was putting together a great story. The last page was in its hands with a chance to do the unthinkable.

The Gamecocks, who had lost their first two SEC games by a combined 55 points, were on the verge of taking down No. 2 Auburn on Saturday. However, after some missed free throws and a scoring drought at the end of the game, they came up just short of a massive upset, falling 66-63 to the Tigers.

Here are five things we learned from watching the way South Carolina performed on Saturday.

This team is so much better when CMB is at his best

Collin Murray-Boyles was only going to stay down for so long. After two rough games for him against SEC competition, the sophomore forward was back to his old self with a great showing against the Tigers.

He finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting, along with seven rebounds and two assists. In those games where he struggled, he felt he wasn’t being himself or playing as aggressive as he would’ve liked.

But right away, it looked like Murray-Boyles was the aggressor and nobody was going to stand in his way. When he plays like that, he’s usually at his best. And that’s exactly what South Carolina needs from him. It’s no coincidence that the Gamecocks were in the game the whole way through with their top player doing his thing.

The front court in general was solid for South Carolina on Saturday. Nick Pringle finished with a double-double as he went for 12 points and 10 rebounds. Even Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, who played 10 minutes, had a big-time block in the second half.

Not that far off

For as rough as those last two games were, this one was most definitely a huge step in the right direction. The fact that the Gamecocks, who lost by 35 points to Mississippi State a week ago, was able to go toe to toe with the best team in the country says a lot. Yeah, they still lost, but that’s what progress looks like.

The good news is the hardest part of the schedule is out of the way now. Auburn and Alabama are currently the two best teams in the conference, and South Carolina won’t have to play either again in the regular season. Granted, there won’t be an “easy” portion of the schedule, not with how good the SEC is this year. But it helps these tougher games are over with.

It’ll be interesting to see how the team responds going into a two-game road trip this upcoming week. The Gamecocks will head to Vanderbilt on Wednesday and Oklahoma on Saturday. With the way they played against Auburn, they should be feeling better about their odds in these next two games. However, they’re going to have to play at that type of level, if not better, to come away victorious in either matchup.

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Have to finish better

While this was certainly a better performance, South Carolina didn’t have the strongest ending to this game. It’s partially why it ended up losing.

With only 23 second-half points, the offense went through a scoring drought in the final 5:18 of the game. A lot of credit needs to be given to Auburn’s defense for making the necessary adjustments after halftime. It’s hard to win games when you’re not scoring at all down the stretch.

Luckily, the Tigers weren’t doing a whole lot of scoring either in the final minutes. The Gamecocks only trailed by one with nine seconds to go in regulation and had a chance to either tie or take the lead. But Nick Pringle, who went to the line to shoot two free throws, missed both and blew a golden opportunity.

For the game, South Carolina went 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) at the free throw line. In a battle that came down to the final possession, it would’ve really helped if it had made some of those free throws.

Arden Conyers has a chance to be really good

With the Gamecocks down two starters, Arden Conyers, who hadn’t seen much floor time before this week, ended up playing a career-high 31 minutes on Saturday. He seemed to struggle against Alabama earlier in the week, but he looked much more comfortable and built for the moment versus Auburn.

The redshirt freshman guard finished with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including 3-for-6 from behind the arc. He knocked down a pair of clutch three-pointers in the second half, both of which gave South Carolina the lead at different points.

Conyers is going to benefit greatly from these experiences as he gets his feet wet at the college level. Keep in mind, he didn’t play at all for South Carolina last season in his freshman year. So these games he’s playing in now are some of his first. It’s good to see him taking advantage of the opportunity he has in front of him, which will lead to more playing time.

Playing aggressive and physical works

Despite coming up short in this game, head coach Lamont Paris seemed to be very pleased with the effort his team gave. There’s no question South Carolina played with the right amount of physicality and aggressiveness, which helped it stay in the fight.

The Gamecocks won the rebound battle over Auburn 37-33 and had 15 second-chance points as a result of some of those big rebounds. They did a great job of crashing to the boards and making life tough on the Tigers at times.

This is exactly how they need to play in every game this season. They seem to be a lot better as a group when they play that style of basketball. The wins can definitely come if that continues moving forward.