After beating the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on Thursday night as part of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina basketball squad stayed in the area for a few days. On Sunday, the Gamecocks found themselves 11 miles away at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Playing in the 2023 Jimmy V Classic in honor of the late Jim Valvano, the South Carolina Gamecocks matched up with the Duke Blue Devils in the former’s second Tobacco Road contest in four days.
In a game that shared a fair amount of similarities to the one against the team wearing a lighter shade of blue, the Duke game also saw the Gamecocks get down early. A near-halfcourt buzzer beater from freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley cut the Duke lead to 20-18 at the end of the 1st quarter and injected enough energy into USC that they led by 6 heading into halftime.
The Blue Devils closed the 3rd quarter on a 20-8 run to make the score just a one-possession margin in favor of the Gamecocks. However, a dominant 4th quarter from Kamilla Cardoso (8 points, 3 rebounds in the quarter) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (6 points, 1 assist, 1 steal in the period) put the game away as South Carolina basketball finished with a comfortable 16-point road win.