South Carolina fans will love Joyce Edwards, Gamecocks' hungry NCAA tournament mindset

The South Carolina Gamecocks are back in the NCAA Tournament, getting a No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 4 Regional. Unlike some previous years, the Gamecocks are considered to be underdogs in this year's tournaments, after falling to Texas in the SEC Tournament final. 

The loss, paired with regular-season stumbles against Oklahoma and Texas in the regular season, means the Gamecocks are the fourth-lowest No. 1 seed in the tournament.

South Carolina's leading scorer, forward Joyce Edwards, spoke with the media on Friday afternoon to discuss the Gamecocks' mindset heading into the tournament. One thing is for certain—this team hates the feeling of losing.

 "Obviously, we are coming off a loss, but I just feel the fire a little bit more," Joyce Edwards said via 247Sports. "We are coming out here and we're ready to win."

"Nobody on this team likes to lose. We all hate it," Edwards added. "We are going to do our best not to have that feeling again for the rest of the season."

ALSO READ: Dawn Staley surprises Southern players with Louis Vuitton

Edwards also talked about her personally wanting to avoid last season's tournament slump. The Gamecocks lost 82-59 to the UConn Huskies in the national championship last year after beating Maryland, Duke and Texas. 

The Gamecocks are also led by veteran guard Raven Johnson, who enters the tournament averaging 10.3 points per game with another 4 rebounds per game and 5.4 assists. Johnson says that although March Madness comes with much higher stakes, taking everything one game at a time will be key. 

"In March, it gets hard," Johnson said via 247. "I say we want to focus on it one game at a time. Just being in the moment where our feet are, just taking one game at a time and believing in each other and holding, like we had this video in the beginning of the season where we had each other's hands and not letting anyone in our circle."

The Gamecocks are heavily favored in their first-round game against Southern, but are playing in a region featuring talented teams like Michigan State, Oklahoma, TCU and Iowa. 

"Going off of that, I think everyone came here because they wanted to win," South Carolina's Tessa Johnson added. "So like Raven said, winning. We all have that same goal, and I think just knowing that, like Raven said, just being able to stay with where our feet are and taking it one game at a time."

DraftKings currently gives the Gamecocks +800 odds to win it all this year.