The South Carolina fans at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena erupted as the Gamecocks huddled under the basket.
South Carolina women’s basketball‘s Jordan Lee had just executed a chase-down block on Southern Cal star guard JuJu Watkins to keep South Carolina’s lead at two points with 15 seconds left. The Gamecocks were preparing to play defense, and Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb called a timeout to draw up an inbounds play.
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Southern Cal thought it was keeping the ball, but Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley had other ideas. She heard from South Carolina video coordinator Hudson Jacobs that she should appeal because he thought the ball last touched Watkins before it went out.
“I got word that we should challenge, and we challenged in that moment, and it was truly the play of the game,” Staley said. “It was the play of the game. I think if they would have gotten a shot up, I’m thinking, ‘Prevent threes.’ I’m thinking (about) seeing the three go in, and then we lose the lead.”
There would be no 3-point attempt. Staley won her appeal, giving the Gamecocks the ball and an opportunity for Tessa Johnson to hit two free throws after being intentionally fouled. She sank both to give her a career-high 28 points, and No. 1 South Carolina (4-0) closed out an 89-85 victory over No. 3 Southern Cal (3-1) on Nov. 15.
“Not really,” Johnson said when asked if she was nervous at the free-throw line. “I feel like I just had to take some deep breaths and basically just do my routine, a muscle-memory kind of thing.”
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Lee got the acclaim, but she was very close to receiving the blame.
The Texas transfer had the ball stolen from her by USC’s Jazzy Davidson and had to quickly track back and recover. In about the three- to four-second span it took for the ball to get from Davidson to Sara Okeke to Watkins, Lee got back in time to make the game’s most critical play.
That earned her plenty of praise from Staley.
“Jordan made the spectacular play,” Staley said. “She stayed with it. I think she was behind the play, and our expectation is for her to do that because she is such an elite defender.”
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What Lindsay Gottlieb, JuJu Watkins said about Dawn Staley’s appeal
Gottlieb questioned why Southern Cal was still charged with the timeout it took right before Staley appealed the out-of-bounds decision on Lee’s block. It was the Trojans’ final timeout, which they likely would’ve used after Johnson’s free throws if they had it.
Gottlieb calling a timeout effectively gave Jacobs enough time to review the play and tell Staley that she should appeal the call. A timeout isn’t necessary for an appeal to be made, but NCAA rules don’t specifically say that a timeout must be given back once it has already been granted.
“It was a great game all the way around, but the first thing: I’m unclear when I called the timeout, that they’re allowed to review, and it still costs me the timeout,” Gottlieb said. “If anyone has the answer on that, I’d like to know.”
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Gottlieb also said that she didn’t think there wasn’t evidence to overturn the call and give South Carolina the ball.
“The call was made for our ball out of bounds, so it has to be overwhelmingly conclusive to go the other way. I watched it … It was close. It was really close. It’s a tough call, so then you go with the way that it was.”
Watkins didn’t say whether she was for or against the call.
“To me, it doesn’t matter,” Watkins said. “I think that’s on me … What happened, happened, and we just move on.”
Nick Coppola covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA Today Network. Email him at ncoppola@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @Nick_Coppola__ and like his Facebook page at Nick Coppola, Clemson Sports.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: How Dawn Staley, JuJu Watkins reacted to call that changed South Carolina vs USC game
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