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The final of the first-ever Players Era Championship is going to be an all-SEC affair, with No. 4 Texas meeting No. 2 South Carolina at 8 p.m. ET at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, NV (truTV).
Vic Schaefer’s Longhorns and Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are familiar foes, having met four times last season, with South Carolina taking three of the four games, including the crucial contests in the SEC Tournament championship game and Final Four.
Despite frequently facing each other in high-profile matchups, the Longhorns and Gamecocks share more similarities than differences. Schaefer and Staley, thus, are likely thankful for the same things.
Strategically and statistically, both programs are founded on their defense. Per Basketball Reference, Texas currently owns the nation’s best defensive rating (adjusted for opponent quality), with South Carolina ranked seventh. The Gamecocks are holding opponents to 28.6 percent shooting from the field, while the Longhorns are allowing opponents to make just 18 field goals per game. Disruptive playmaking also is essential to both defenses, with Texas relying on 15 steals per game and South Carolina swatting eight shots per contest.
Those defenses were only display in their respective victories over No. 3 UCLA and Duke. The Longhorns held the Bruins to a season-low 65 points, inducing a season-high 18 turnovers. The Gamecocks extended the Blue Devils’ overall offensive struggles, nabbing nine steals and forcing 16 turnovers while allowing only 28 points in the paint.
Offensively, both the Longhorns and Gamecocks endorse egalitarian systems. The Longhorns, national leaders with a field goal percentage of 56.3 percent, average 19 assists per game, with five players scoring in double figures. The Gamecocks are hitting 55 percent of their shots, paced by more than 20 assists per game and four double-digit scorers. Both teams also earn more than 20 trips to the free throw line per game
And a huge reason why both Schaefer and Staley can be thankful for their elite, disciplined defenses and their organized, efficient offenses are their super senior point guards: Rori Harmon and Raven Johnson.
Neither Schaefer nor Staley misses an opportunity to sing their praises of their experienced primary playmakers. After Texas’ win over UCLA, when the Longhorns were down three rotation players and had to stave off a second-half surge from the Bruins, Schaefer emotionally applauded the heart, hustle and leadership of Harmon, who played all 40 minutes.
Staley consistently defends Johnson as the “consummate point guard” and ultimate winner, emphasizing how she does whatever is needed—defend, rebound, set up her teammates—to allow South Carolina to keep churning out dominant seasons.
The outcome of the Thanksgiving evening matchup very well could be determined by the head-to-head battle between Rori and Raven.
Two of the best perimeter defenders in the game, they will be dedicated to making life difficult for the other, from trying to disrupt the other’s dribble to working to deny entry passes to just never relenting. And while both will be intent upon putting all their talented teammates in positions to succeed—with Harmon diming up Madison Booker for midrangers, swinging the ball to Jordan Lee for a 3 or finding Kyla Oldacre for a bucket at the basket and Johnson delivering hit ahead passes to a streaking Joyce Edwards, putting the ball on a platter for a Tessa Johnson triple or giving Ta’Niya Latson an opportunity to go to work—whichever of Harmon or Johnson scores timely baskets for her squad could swing the game to Texas or South Carolina.
While neither are reputed as shooters or scorers, daring them to be the offensive difference maker is a risky proposition, especially under the bright Vegas lights.
On Wednesday afternoon, UCLA discovered that, as Harmon scored a game-high and season-high 26 points, including hitting a pair of 3s. Harmon also appears to have fully regained the offensive zip and zest she showed off before suffering an ACL injury in December of 2023, making her a more dangerous offensive threat than she was during the Longhorns’ series of games against the Gamecocks last season.
South Carolina only needed 26 minutes and 10 points from Johnson to defeat Duke. However, don’t be surprised if Johnson’s diligent work on her shot pays off for the Gamecocks. Johnson has demonstrated increased confidence as a midrange and 3-point shooter. She’s shooting just over 47 percent from deep this season, while converting on 50 percent of her overall field goal attempts.
And although ending up on the wrong side of the scoreboard certainly will irritate either Schaefer and Staley, their gratitude for their squads, especially the point guards, will not waver.
