Dec. 15, 2005
Columbia, S.C. – Assistant coach Tammy Holder unsheathed the sheet of paper from her leather folder an hour before tip-off. Even in a coaching career that has spanned three decades, Holder couldn’t recall seeing a game plan quite like this.
On a chart, head coach Susan Walvius had vivisected Tuesday’s game against Minnesota into 10 four-minute quarters. “Games,” she called them. A different team was assigned to each game. Walvius spelled out specific offensive and defensive sets for each team to run, based on their biggest strengths: dribble penetration, perimeter defense, full-court pressure, etc.
NFL offensive coordinators may script their first series. But Susan Walvius, concocting a script for an entire game?
Unorthodox, yes. Unsuccessful, hardly. In front of 1,108 fans who made Dollar Night worth the investment, Carolina stifled the 14th-ranked Golden Gophers 79-61 at the Colonial Center Tuesday. The win marked USC’s first over a ranked opponent in 17 tries. The Gamecocks shot a season-high 58 percent from the field, and held Minnesota – 10th in the nation in shooting – to a season-low 39 percent from the floor.
Describing her strategy afterwards, Walvius sounded more existential than ecstatic.
“The strength of our team is our team,” she said. “The last couple days of practice we’ve been trying to find the personality of our team. We’ve been looking for individuals to create that personality. And what we realized in [Monday’s] practice was it’s not going to come from an individual.
“It’s going to come from our players getting their roles done,” she said.
Her game plan, tailored to those roles, gave the Gamecocks a focus and confidence Tuesday that had been dormant during their three-game losing streak.
“I knew who I had out there,” said junior captain Lauren Simms. “I knew what plays I had to run for that person. I knew what to look for.”
“People on the bench were ready,” added junior guard Lea Fabbri. “They knew, `Okay, I have two minutes to prepare myself to get in.’ You just had to give your four minutes on the court, and that’s it.”
Zeroed in on their roles, the Gamecocks’ first unit – Fabbri, Simms, Shannel Harris, Iva Sliskovic, and Ilona Burgrova – set the tone, jumping out to a 13-2 lead. Any worries about momentum stopping when the next unit stepped on the floor were squelched when the second group built the lead to 21-5. Once halftime arrived, Carolina was leading Minnesota 39-21, holding the Gophers to 28 percent shooting. South Carolina also committed a season-low 12 turnovers, half their average.
“I thought we stayed fresh. We did a good job on the defensive end. Our defense created some offense for us, and I thought we had a real focus,” Walvius said.
“We had a gut check after we lost to Georgia Southern,” junior Shannel Harris said. She finished with a career-high 13 points and 6 rebounds. “We just took what we were working on and applied it to the game, and I think that made a big difference.
“We’ve seen what we can do and we can just move forward from here.”
Idle Worship:
The Gamecocks’ recent 13-day layoff was long, but nowhere near a record. Back in the 1975-76 season, Carolina had an Noah’s Ark-like 31 days off between games. After a December 9 contest against Voorhees, the Gamecocks didn’t return to the floor until January 10 against Clemson.
