COLUMBIA, S.C. – Midway through the first quarter of South Carolina's Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinal game against Vanderbilt, coach Dawn Staley sensed her team needed a boost with the scored knotted at 9-9.
Backup point guard MiLaysia Fulwiley checked into the game.
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Fulwiley closed the quarter with a flurry, making two remarkable plays. She grabbed a long rebound and outraced two Commodores to the basket for a layup — causing one of them to trip over her own feet — with 19 seconds left. As Vanderblit looked for a last-second shot, Fulwiley bolted in front of a pass, raced the ball up the court and, sensing the game clock was about to expire, pulled up for a 3-pointer and knocked it down.
Just like that, the Gamecocks led by nine.
Fulwiley would finish with 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals in just 22 minutes as South Carolina went on to win 84-63. The Gamecocks' bench outscored Vanderbilt's 33-4 that day, and Fulwiley would go on to make the all-tournament team as South Carolina won all three games by at least 18 points.
After the game, Staley called Fulwiley a “generational talent," saying she can do things that she's never seen before from a female basketball player.
Not bad for a reserve.
Fulwiley is one of several South Carolina reserves who could start for almost any other team in the country. And yet she seems content with coming off the bench for the Gamecocks, who enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the fifth straight year in search of their third national championship in four seasons.
“I think here we all just have the same mindset, and that’s winning,” Fulwiley said. “Whether you’re doing it from coming off the bench or starting the game. We all just want to win. I think the first group, they pushed the bench to be a better version of ourselves.”
That second-ranked South Carolina (30-3) has a plethora of riches when it comes to talent is nothing new.
Staley has built a powerhouse in Columbia, not unlike what Connecticut and Tennessee have done in previous decades, and there’s no shortage of players who want to play for the two-time national coach of the year and three-time national champion. To do so often means a direct path to the WNBA.
South Carolina’s bench is the best in women’s college basketball, and it’s not even close. The Gamecocks average 41.5 points per game from their reserves — nearly 10 points more than the next closest Division I team. The Gamecocks, which host 16 seed Tennessee Tech in their NCAA opener on Friday, are averaging 80.5 points per game this season, but it’s not uncommon for their leading score to have fewer than 15 points.
“For South Carolina, it isn’t about who is the leading scorer — that’s a team over there,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said earlier this year.
With that bench talent comes a tricky balance Staley has to strike.
It begins with recruiting players willing to buy into her team-first concept, meaning those who start may have to surrender minutes to reserves if they're not playing well, and reserves who don't know how much they'll play, if at all.
“We’re pretty honest throughout the recruiting process,” Staley said. “I mean, we don’t tell anybody they’re going to automatically start because we don’t know what that looks like when they make the transition from high school to college.”
Staley said it comes down to “choosing people that want us.”
“There’s something about us that they like,” Staley said. “That is the very thing that continues to drive them while they’re with us.”
Still, athletes are inherently competitive, and there are times when players get upset over a perceived lack of playing time. Staley, who is 470-109 since taking over the Gamecocks in 2008, has learned to handle that by attacking issues head on with honesty.
“If you’re having a bad day, why did you decide to come here? It helps you get over your bad day a little bit easier, right? We’re just completely honest,” Staley said. “If something looks, sounds or feels off, we’re going to address it. If it looks, sounds, feels great, we’re going to promote it. I believe we know what to say to our players that will allow them to grow. Yes, they may be angry one minute, but we get down to, ‘Why? Why are you angry?’ Then we talk about that, break it down. We do it time and time again.'"
On senior night, Staley kept senior Bree Hall, one of her regular starters, on the bench for the entire fourth quarter while five others finished the game.
“Does she feel a certain type of way? Yeah, she’s a competitor. Senior night, last regular-season game,” Staley said. “But you talk to her. You say, ‘Hey, 90% of the time you’ve been in the game. That’s been you.' They understand when we have a unit out there that’s playing well, we’re going to continue to play them.”
Communication, Staley has learned, helps avoid potential pitfalls.
“If I don’t say anything to Breezy, she might hold on to that for the rest of her life and remember that,” Staley said. “When if you just address it, she can get it over with.”
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