Feb. 15, 2006

Fiesta Bowl, you’ve been warned. On Sunday, the Gamecocks pulled off the greatest patronage of tortilla chips this side of Tempe.

“Everybody looked kinda puzzled,” freshman Demetress Adams said.

Well, sure. Who wouldn’t be perplexed at the sight of a team huddling together, moments before tip-off, holding aloft a giant cardboard box?

Of course, there was a method to the Gamecocks’ madness. Carolina adopted the 2′ x 3′ box – it used to be a wholesale box for tortilla chips – as a reminder to box out. Despite having the 10th-best rebounding margin in the nation, USC gave up a crippling 43 offensive boards in a two-game span last week.

Their tortilla-flavored talisman worked. Because rebounds, like their chips, the Gamecocks grabbed in bulk Sunday.

Outmuscling Florida 43-33 on the glass, Carolina rolled up an 81-63 victory over the Gators in Gainesville. More importantly, the win moved USC to 13-9, 4-6 SEC, keeping its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

“We played controlled defense. We played with a lot of technique, as far as finding our players and making sure they weren’t touching the ball,” Adams said. The freshman forward capped an eye-opening week with 18 points and 9 rebounds against the Gators.

Carolina’s biggest triumph, though, may have been fighting through Florida’s full-court pressure. Pressing almost the entire game, the Gators went on a 13-1 run early in the second half to take a 50-46 lead. Head coach Susan Walvius made an adjustment that settled her team down.

“We went with two primary ballhandlers in the game instead of one. That was a tough thing, because we get so much leadership and communication from Shannel [Harris], but we really needed Lauren [Simms] in the game for her ballhandling with Lea [Fabbri],” Walvius said.

With the press broken, Walvius gave another directive to her team: once you beat the heat, dish it right back.

“Once we attacked their press, we attacked the basket. That’s what we wanted to do,” she said.

The strategy worked, thanks largely to dialed-in junior Melanie Johnson. Mixing baseline pull-ups, flick shots in the paint, and stick-backs under the rim, Johnson poured in a career-high 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.

“We handled the pressure well. Instead of giving up when they took the lead, we just fought back. We took it step-by-step with our defense,” Johnson said. Carolina forced 21 Florida turnovers to help pull away.

But back to the box. In the aftermath of their loss to Kentucky Thursday, Carolina’s coaches drilled their players relentlessly on boxing out in practice.

“We were tired of yelling `Box, box, box!'” assistant coach Tammy Holder said. “We had a water break. I ran outside, and there he was.”

“He,” of course, being a white wholesale box that was orphaned near the door. Holder, never one to miss a moment, chucked it into the gym to hammer her point home.

“Everybody laughed, because Coach Holder is the comic relief of the team,” Johnson said.

The Gamecocks took Holder’s message to heart. They squired the box to Gainesville, and took it everywhere they went: shootaround, pre-game meal, even ensconced behind the bench during the game.

Apparently, it helped the Gamecocks regain some chippiness of their own.

“I have felt all year that this team was going to be very good – that we could go far, if we get a little more focus,” Walvius said.

If it means getting focus from an empty box of tortilla chips, well… start eating.

The Tip Drill

Name That Gator: Florida’s lineup included a Sha (pronounced “SHAY,”) a Marshae (mar-SHAY), and an Eshe (esh-SHAY). To which I say, touché.

Good Sign: Sighted on the official “Beyond The Mic” Sunday run was a “Radio Road.” It felt good to be home.

Shell Game: Former Gamecocks assistant Shell Dailey (’99-’03) is now an assistant at Florida.