They say a person's true self comes out in the toughest moments.
That can also be applicable to a basketball team.
With a trip to the Final Four on the line, the South Carolina Gamecocks showed their true colors, locking down the Florida Gators on defense, stripping the ball away and wanting it more than their opponents. They weren't strangers to the moment, and even the bright lights of Madison Square Garden couldn't faze them.
"We just have been in that situation, like you said, so many times, when we played Florida at home, we was in that same situation down seven at half. We played Duke, we was down. Marquette we was down," Sindarius Thornwell said after the win.
Stops. The Gamecocks have elevated their play on offense throughout the NCAA Tournament, but their true identity always comes down to making stops. And when the moment couldn't be any bigger, South Carolina forced two turnovers in the final minute, sealing the win and extending the historic season.
The Gamecocks trapped Devin Robinson in the corner with 40 seconds left, and Thornwell snatched the ball away, setting up two free throws for Chris Silva, where the forward extended the lead to five. After the teams traded buckets, PJ Dozier stripped a driving Chris Chiozza and shot the ball up the floor to Duane Notice, where Notice hammered it home and put the final nail in the Gators' coffin.
South Carolina played its trademark tough defense all game — even Florida's seven threes were contested, with maybe one exception.
"It just felt good to have that moment in front of my family," Notice said of the game-sealing slam. "I had to stick it to my teammates that I could still throw it down.”
Notice didn't just throw it down. He brought the house down in New York City, energizing an already crazed pro-Gamecock crowd that gave South Carolina the edge down the stretch.
"From being able to look into the stands and see a bunch of empty seats, to not being able to see any empty seats, to looking in the Garden and seeing a lot of garnet and black," Justin McKie said. "It’s been a lot of good times and bad times. This just kind of brings it home for us that we stuck with it and have done something amazing.”
Frank Martin has stressed it all season. As he puts it, he could hear cell phone conversations across the court at Colonial Life Arena during his first season in Columbia. At Madison Square Garden Sunday, in just his fifth season, coaches had to scream instructions to their players all game long.
"I needed our fans to understand that in a powerful moment, where I know they were paying attention because of our team's success and I wanted to make sure they understood the way my staff, myself, my family and obviously, the players feel," Martin said Sunday.