Long-range shooting makes South Carolina all the more ominous as it heads to Elite Eight

ALBANY, N.Y. — South Carolina is not invincible.

Indiana proved that, erasing all but two points of the undefeated and overall No. 1 seed Gamecocks’ 22-point lead. But the way the game ended, and one statistic, ought to terrify any team that has to face South Carolina over the next 10 days.

Starting with you, Oregon State.

South Carolina shot a season-best 50% from 3-point range, the last from Raven Johnson with 53 seconds left putting a dagger in Indiana’s comeback hopes.

The 50% was well above South Carolina’s average (39.8) this year. Which is, notably, better than the 30% the Gamecocks shot from 3-point range last year, when they were eliminated in the Final Four. A game in which they were 20% from deep.

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See a theme developing here? “Anytime you are trying to put together a championship team, you figure out what your weaknesses are. You figure out what people scheme, (what they) play against you,” coach Dawn Staley said after the 79-75 win that sent the Gamecocks on to the Elite Eight for the fourth year in a row.

It’s not a secret to anyone that South Carolina is going to get its points inside. It has three players 6-foot-3 or taller who play 15 minutes or more, with Kamilla Cardoso being the tallest at 6-foot-7. There aren’t many teams that can match that. Or stop that.

Against Indiana, Cardoso had a game-high 22 points and three blocks, and four of her seven rebounds were on the offensive glass. As a team, South Carolina outscored the Hoosiers 42-26 in the paint.

Add a potent outside game, and it’s simply not a fair fight. How do you defend against that? You’d need to play 10 on 5, or spot opponents a 30-point lead, to have a chance.

And an NCAA that’s now policing nose rings isn’t likely to bend the rules like that.

“You can't just shut one player down on our team,” said Johnson, who was a perfect 3-of-3 from long range and finished with 14 points. The three 3s matched her career high.

“We just bring different weapons,” Johnson added. “When it comes to scouting us, we can shoot from the outside, we can dominate in the paint, we have drivers, everything. How can you guard us? That's how I look at it.”

At which point Staley replied, “We gave up a 17- or 20-point lead.”

It was 22, to be exact. And Staley has a valid point, one that won’t go unnoticed by anyone from here on out.

“Obviously we’d like to get a lead and hold serve throughout,” Staley said. “That didn’t happen, and we know it’s not going to happen with teams like Indiana, teams like Oregon State. Now no lead is safe.”

South Carolina is also a young team, with Cardoso and Te-Hina Paopao, who transferred from Oregon after last season, the only seniors who play significant minutes. Young teams tend to be streaky and, when they get leads, can be careless.

When Indiana was erasing South Carolina’s lead, Staley said she saw her team trying to make a basket to stop the run rather than just get a stop.

“We took some bad shots that led to some easy buckets for them,” Staley said. “We just have to control those situations a little bit better.”

But South Carolina is able to answer those situations because of the way it’s built this year.

After Mackenzie Holmes pulled Indiana to within 74-72 on her driving layup with 1:08 to play, Staley called a timeout. The play, she said, was to get Cardoso the ball inside.

Indiana knew that, however, and had her blanketed. Rather than panicking and forcing a shot or, worse, committing a turnover, the Gamecocks kicked the ball out to Johnson.

“I was open and all I could think was, `Let it go.’ I don’t want to lose. Nobody can sag off me this year and I take that very personal," said Johnson, who was famously waved off by Caitlin Clark in last year's Final Four game. "I get in the gym every day and put up reps, and I think that's where it comes from, the confidence.”

South Carolina cannot count on pulling off escape acts in every game. But if it does find itself in a jam, it knows it can find a way out.

Several different ways, including the long way.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.