Raven Johnson Calls Out South Carolina Doubters After NCAA Tournament Win vs Indiana
The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team overcame a tough first half and ultimately earned a 64-53 win over the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday, which advances them to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Per usual, South Carolina received steady scoring from several players, with three Gamecocks scoring in double digits and two others adding 9 points in the win.
One of the most common narratives surrounding the Gamecocks roster this season is that while they're undoubtedly extraordinarily talented, they don't have an imposing post player like they've had in past seasons, specifically with top-three WNBA Draft picks Kamilla Cardoso last year and Aliyah Boston two years prior.
This hole in the roster was intensified once forward Ashlyn Watkins suffered a torn ACL earlier this season, making South Carolina's relative lack of size compared to that of past teams even more apparent.
However, veteran guard Raven Johnson is tired of this narrative, and she made that abundantly clear when speaking with the media after Sunday's game.
"People say we don't have this dominant big," Johnson said before making unintelligible noises as if to mimic the white noise of people spreading this narrative, per an X post from WIS News 10 reporter Julia Westerman.
"I know y'all seen the press conference of what the Indiana girl said, that we wasn't gonna win without Ashlyn or Kamilla. We don't need Ashlyn or Kamilla to win! We got a whole team full of dogs to go out here and win. We don't need no Ashlyn, we don't need to Kamilla. We got MiLaysia, we got Tessa, I can name the whole roster. We've got dogs on this team," she added.
South Carolina heard all the chatter about what they don't have. They're more concerned with everything they do have.
— Julia Westerman (@JuliaWesterman) March 23, 2025
"We don't need Ashlyn or Kamilla to win. I can name the whole roster. We've got dogs on this team." pic.twitter.com/WTTPskVlUp
Johnson and her Gamecocks teammates have a chance to prove any doubters wrong throughout the rest of this NCAA Tournament.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.