Will anybody beat South Carolina? It sure doesn't look like it as Gamecocks march on

For the last couple of seasons, it seems as if the same question gets asked at this time of year: Can anybody beat South Carolina?

After the way the Gamecocks dismantled North Carolina on Sunday, it sure doesn’t look like it.

The overall No. 1 seed was absolutely ruthless, both offensively and defensively, in its 88-41 rout of the Tar Heels. Five players finished in double figures. Of the 10 players who made an appearance, Sakima Walker was the only Gamecock who didn’t score — and she was only in the game for five minutes.

Even more impressive, South Carolina’s bench had more points (51) than North Carolina’s entire team, thanks largely to Tessa Johnson and MiLaysia Fulwiley being unconscious from 3-point range. The two combined to go 7 of 12 from deep as South Carolina improved to 34-0 this season.

North Carolina, meanwhile, didn’t hit double-digits until three minutes into the second quarter and finished with its fewest points of the year. By far. It was a miserable 24% from the floor and an even worse 17% from 3-point range. It lost the rebounding battle decisively (54-33) and had only five second-chance points.

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If this had been an AAU or rec-league game, the slaughter rule would have been imposed after the first quarter. Certainly after the first half.

And this was against a team that had stayed within single digits of South Carolina earlier in the year!

“We haven’t played like that in a super long time,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said afterward. “We actually were talking about that in the coaches’ locker room. We haven’t played well, all together — every single one of our players made an impact.

“We needed a performance like this,” Staley added. “Hopefully playing this good of basketball can be contagious throughout the rest of the way.”

Now, I know. The Gamecocks were supposed to be unbeatable last year, too, only for them to get rolled by Iowa in the Final Four. But this is not the same team as last year. This might be a team unlike any the game has seen.

It’s hard to imagine a squad that lost Aliyah Boston, the Player of the Year in 2022, Zia Cooke and Brea Beal could be better, but South Carolina is. This is a team that didn’t have Kamilla Cardoso for five games and won all five, including a meeting with UConn. How? Its depth is downright scary, a seemingly bottomless wave of players who can hurt you.

Remember that movie "Gremlins"? If you poured water on the furry little guys, they’d multiply and pretty soon they’d be everywhere. That’s how it feels watching South Carolina. Take away Cardoso, literally or figuratively, and someone else will pop off. It might be Fulwiley. Or Johnson. Or Ashlyn Watkins. Or Chloe Kitts. Or Te-hina Paopao. Or … you get the idea.

Unless the NCAA is going to change the rules and allow the Gamecocks’ opponents to put 10 players on the floor, it is impossible to shut down all their options.

“They’ve got so much at every spot, it takes an enormous amount of energy” to defend them, North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said, acknowledging the obvious.

Yes, North Carolina was short-handed. Multiple players, including starting point guard Kayla McPherson, are injured. But you got the sense that it wouldn’t have mattered if the Tar Heels had been at full strength. That’s just how good, how clinical South Carolina was.

“We want to play good basketball. We didn’t want to run up the score but we certainly didn’t want to let our foot off the gas because it’s hard. It’s hard to lose momentum and to gain it back,” Staley said. “We were just trying to execute. Because it was a different set of players out there … so they have to utilize the time they get just in case we need them in a situation.”

That’s what might have been the scariest thing of all about this performance. The players leading South Carolina in this game, Fulwiley and Johnson, are freshmen. Kitts, who also had a monster game, might as well be, averaging less than 7 minutes a game last year. All three come off the bench.

“They’ll be a tough out for whoever they’ve got for the rest of their journey,” Banghart said.

Ya think?

No team is perfect and every team is, in theory, beatable. But if any team can defy those certainties of sport, South Carolina looks to be the one.

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