TAMPA – Joyce Edwards is playing in her first Final Four and it sure looks easy.
Two days before South Carolina played Texas for a spot in Sunday’s national title game, Edwards took part in an NBA2k tournament against her teammates. Sakima Walker couldn’t remember the outcome. “Did you win?” she called out to Edwards across the locker room. “Of course I did,” Edwards replied. Moments later, Edwards is asked about pressure. As she answers, Edwards never drops her gaze, staring directly into the eyes of the questioner.
“Pressure comes from the outside,” she said. “Everybody is going to have their own expectations, their own opinion, their own standards. But at the end of the day, it’s just me and basketball. And I’ve been playing for a long time.”
On the court against Texas on Friday at Amalie Arena, Edwards, a 6-foot-3 freshman forward, was true to her word. There were defenders, but they didn’t matter. She euro-stepped around them and finished with ease. She is a reserve, but as soon as Edwards checked in, she was the best player on the court. It’s just her and the basketball, and they make one hell of a pair.
“There’s something about her confidence and her aura,” South Carolina 5-foot-9 senior guard Te-Hina Paopao said. “It’s growing and that is something nice to see.”
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Edwards led the Gamecocks to a 69-52 victory over Texas with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. This was a big moment for Edwards, not just because she was the driving force behind South Carolina pulling away but because it came on the heels of a difficult three-game stretch.
Edwards started the NCAA Tournament with a 22-point, 5-rebound performance against No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech. But in wins over Indiana, Maryland and Duke, Edwards averaged just five points per game – well below her team-leading 12.7 average. Edwards was the No. 3 recruit in the class of 2024 out of Camden (S.C.) High, and ended her high school career by being named both the Gatorade National Player of the Year and the Morgan Wooten National Player of the Year. Edwards, who averaged 31.2 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 3.3 blocks as a high school senior, never really has bad games. And she certainly hadn’t had three in a row. Yet her expectations and confidence never wavered.
“I was just trying to go out there and not get too low with the lows or too high with the highs,” she said. “I just went out there and started playing. You’re going to have slumps. It’s part of growth. It’s part of the process.”
Despite being a freshman reserve, Edwards has been one of South Carolina’s most consistent players this season. She’s next in a line of dominant Gamecocks bigs, following the likes of A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso, and Friday’s performance provided a glimpse of what’s to come. Edwards will get better, but she’s also exactly what the Gamecocks need right now.
“If you look at the three games prior to this game, I mean they’re one-, two-possession games,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “A lot had to do with the amount of production – and I don’t want to put that much pressure on her, but that’s what she’s been doing all season long. When she doesn’t get her average, when she doesn’t fly around out there, we feel it. We feel it.”
On multiple possessions Friday night, Edwards grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast, driving by a talented Texas defense and floating the ball off the backboard. When she was met by multiple defenders, Edwards made dagger passes, finding shooters or cutters and finishing with a team-high six assists. It was the fourth time South Carolina and Texas played this season; they know each other, but the Longhorns (who finished 1-3 against the Gamecocks) had no idea what to do with Edwards.
“I thought she took her time,” Staley said. “She didn’t seem pressed. She uses her athleticism, her strength and her ability to direct line drive. Her game was very lean today, and we love to see that.”
While this might be Edwards’ first time in a Final Four, she played with as much poise as the South Carolina vets Friday. Edwards has been waiting for this moment. She knew big games were on the docket when she signed with South Carolina. But she also didn’t know how big of a role she would be playing. South Carolina is known for its depth, and early in the season, 6-foot-3 junior Ashlyn Watkins was the first post player off the bench. But after Watkins tore her ACL against Mississippi State at the start of January, that role fell to Edwards.
And despite all her talent, Edwards admits she wasn’t quite ready.
“It was a comfort thing,” she said. “I always knew how to play basketball, but I had to switch my mindset because I went from playing people my age to playing against a lot of grown women.”
Ultimately, Edwards always falls back on the same thing. She did it in high school, she did it all season, did it against Texas and will do it again in the championship game against UConn. No matter how big the stage, Edwards tells herself the same thing:
“At the end of the day, it’s just basketball.”
