USC’s Raven Johnson shares inspiring backstory behind huge 3-pointer in Sweet 16

Raven Johnson knew what dozens of people in the women’s college basketball world were thinking, because she’s been thinking about it for almost a year.

In South Carolina’s Final Four loss to Iowa last year, Johnson found herself on the wrong end of a viral clip as a redshirt freshman. She was dribbling the ball at the top of the key and watched her defender, Iowa star Caitlin Clark, sag off her a good 15 feet before waving her off.

The message was clear: We’re not worried about your shooting.

Fast forward to Friday’s Sweet 16 win against Indiana, and Johnson, No. 1 USC’s starting point guard, found herself in a similar situation. South Carolina was inbounding, up 74-72 on IU with 58 seconds to go. Indiana doubled the Gamecocks’ Kamilla Cardoso in the post. She swung it back out to Johnson.

She was wide open for a 3.

The Hoosiers weren’t exactly sagging off a la Clark, but IU coach Teri Moren confirmed postgame that her team was intentionally trying to get the ball away from Cardoso and into someone else’s hands for a shot.

Swish.

“I was open, and all I could think was, ‘Let it go,’ ” Johnson said not long after hitting the dagger that put South Carolina up two possessions in an eventual 79-75 win over No. 4 Indiana at MVP Arena. “I don’t want to lose.”

Then she smiled.

“Nobody can sag off me this year,” Johnson said. “And I take that very personal.”

Johnson later added in South Carolina’s locker room that she felt depressed and thought about quitting basketball after the video of Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, waving her off went viral on social media during USC’s national semifinal loss a year ago. She put up hundreds of shots in the offseason to improve her 3-point shooting after making 14 of 58 (24.1%) as a redshirt freshman.

Head coach Dawn Staley, whose South Carolina squad advanced to play an Elite Eight game against No. 3 Oregon State on Sunday afternoon, said Johnson has worked on her shot “every single day.”

This year, as the starting point guard for the 35-0 Gamecocks, Johnson has improved her 3-point percentage to 24-68 (35.3%). She sank all three of her attempts from deep Friday and had 12 points, a team-high six assists and five rebounds.

“I see the work that Raven puts in every single day,” Staley said. “Every single day she gets shots up, before or after practice. They have a quota to meet each and every day. I see that before. I see that after. So I don’t think about last year. I don’t think about any of that when it comes to Raven.”

And when Johnson got the ball Friday with the game on the line, after South Carolina had nearly blown a 22-point lead in the second half and needed a bucket to stay alive in the NCAA Tournament?

“I wanted her to shoot it,” Staley said.

Next South Carolina WBB game

• Who: No. 1 South Carolina (35-0) vs. No. 3 Oregon State (27-7) in NCAA Elite Eight

• Where: MVP Arena in Albany

• When: 1 p.m. Sunday

• TV: ESPN

• Next up: The winner of South Carolina-Oregon State advances to the Final Four as the winner of the Albany 1 Regional and will play its first game next Friday (March 5)