TAMPA, Fla. — Raven Johnson said what everyone was thinking about South Carolina-Texas IV.

You play 160 minutes of basketball against the same opponent in less than three months, and mystery flies out the window. Scouting is long gone. Even wrinkles are hard to come by.

It’s you against them, better team wins.

More than maybe any game you could find on a schedule, let alone one in a Final Four, this boiled down to just playing well more than anything with an opponent.

“We’ve played this team four times, they know our Xs and Os,” Johnson said. “It comes down to executing, it comes down to being disciplined, it comes down to knowing your personnel.”

South Carolina did all three better than Texas in its 74-57 win at Amalie Arena, a game the Gamecocks started a little flat in and completely controlled the rest of the way. They executed better, producing their best offensive performance of the NCAA Tournament excluding the game against No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech in the first round. They were far more disciplined; the game changed completely when Texas star Madison Booker picked up her second foul far away from the basket, then deteriorated further for the Longhorns when she got her third even further away.

And South Carolina (35-3) certainly knew its personnel better, creating open shots and generating free-flowing, efficient offense for the first time in weeks.

In the opening minutes, it appeared the offense that scored just 54 points against Duke was still in the gym, as South Carolina fell behind 10-2 early.

Panic? Not when you’re this talented.

“We found ourselves in that situation against Iowa last year in the National Championship where we were down 10 or 11 to nothing,” Dawn Staley said. “And as a coach, you’re just evaluating what’s happening out there. Are we getting good looks? Are we defending at a really high clip and they’re making good shots?”

Simple, straightforward and borderline cliche to the extreme as it sounds, this truly was about playing better basketball. In some ways, Texas was the perfect opponent for South Carolina to work on its own issues against. After playing their three worst offensive games all season in a row, the Gamecocks had the fortune of drawing an opponent where there was nothing new to scout, no true shocks to the system and an opportunity to just focus on playing within themselves.

Joyce Edwards, in particular, was the poster child for it. Edwards hit something of a mini-freshman wall during the tournament. Just 15 total points and eight turnovers in the last three games, and not coincidentally at all, the offense lost its way when she did.

Friday night against Texas? Her speed returned — along with her confidence — and she had 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and six fouls drawn. For the first time since the regular season, she played like a player who knew no one on the floor could stop her.

“I feel I was more definitive,” Edwards said. “More open minded. Like I said, giving what the game gave me, not overthinking, not second-guessing, just going.”

Te-Hina Paopao also busted a slump, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc after making four such shots, total, over the last six games. An offense built around scoring down low and wearing teams down won the paint production battle 40-22. South Carolina’s last game against a power four opponent with 40+ paint points?

Sure enough, Texas in the SEC Tournament.

“Great players go through it,” Johnson said. “But you have to fight through it. You know that when you get out of that little slump, you’re going to see the bright side.”

Now the target is UConn, one final game with everything at stake. A chance to avenge the shocking 29-point home loss in February, to complete the back-to-back run and officially join UConn and Tennessee as the only programs with at least four National Championships.

Of course, the flip side of everything about Texas being such a comfortable match-up is how difficult the UConn one is. Scoring in the 70s or even the 60s would have been a luxury against Texas, but not a prerequisite for winning. Getting into the 70s feels like a minimum expectation against the Huskies, and even that could plausibly not be enough.

Did South Carolina fix its offense enough in these 40 minutes to play another 40 like it, or even better? Only time will tell, but there is at least some runway now.

“I felt like we had a lot of bad energy because we weren’t playing as well,” MiLaysia Fulwiley said. “But this was a great start for us and hopefully we can keep it going.”

One game to go.

One final opportunity to empty the tank.

And it just might have more in it than previously thought.

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