No. 7 South Carolina edges No. 4 Florida for trip to the Final Four

NEW YORK — As his South Carolina players mobbed one another, blanketing each other in hugs, Frank Martin wandered around the court in no particular rush, pulled as if by a magnet toward his family: The wife he'd met and asked out seven times before she said yes, and their kids; and his mother, whom he calls the strongest woman he’s ever met, the woman who raised him on her own and encouraged him to try to make a living as a basketball coach.

An East regional championship hat on his head, Martin raised both fists high. His family and the Gamecocks faithful around them cheered wildly, celebrating the program’s first Final Four berth with a roar.

South Carolina 77, Florida 70 — the final score stayed frozen on the videoboard, a confirmation that, yes, this really did happen. And it suggested, too, that the No. 7 seed out of the East that has defied expectations all NCAA tournament isn’t finished just yet. The Gamecocks will face Gonzaga, the No. 1 seed in the West, in the Final Four on Saturday.

BOX SCORE: Gamecocks 77, Gators 70

“Anyone that's in sports dreams of moments like this,” Martin said. “It's not something that you start dreaming the year you win 25 games. You dream it every single day. And the thing is, you have to work toward getting better every day, not getting wrapped up on good and bad and losses and wins.

“I've never changed my mindset. It's been my mindset from Day 1. Our job was to elevate our program to where we can compete for an SEC championship. That was it, and that's what we have been striving to do. I knew that if we could elevate our program to where we can compete for a SEC championship — because I know our league — we’d have a chance to win games in this tournament. And that's what's happened.

“Our kids believe in each other, they work their tails off, and we keep our focus where it matters. And that's on one another, and not letting, not making things easy for each other. On the contrary. (Our focus is on) making things hard for one another so we can be prepared for this moment.”

There’s no question these Gamecocks were tough enough to do this, this NCAA tournament run that’s included three second-half comebacks and stunning wins against No. 2 seed Duke, No. 3 seed Baylor and now No. 4 seed Florida. Their defense — one of the best in the nation — has been bruising, stifling and frustrating for opponents to go up against. Senior Sindarius Thornwell — one of the most underrated stars in a sport that tends to spotlight freshman phenoms — has arguably been the most valuable player for any team throughout the tournament, doing everything on both ends of the court for teammates, a coach and a state he loves.

“Signing here and growing up in South Carolina, all we asked for was a chance to make it,” Thornwell said. “We didn't ask for — coach didn’t guarantee us anything, but to come here and just work hard and give ourselves a chance. All we wanted was to make it. All we wanted was a bid to this tournament, to see our name on the board. And when we got our name on the board, well, the rest, the rest takes care of itself.

“All we wanted was a chance.”

Thornwell, the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year, was named the East region’s Most Outstanding Player, an obvious call after his game-high 26 points, seven rebounds and two steals in Sunday’s Elite Eight game.

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As Thornwell took his turn to climb up the ladder to cut a piece of the net, fans waved a sign in the background: Sin-City. New York is no Vegas, but there was plenty of Sin here this weekend, too.

“I just made plays,” Thornwell said. “I just felt like plays needed to be made down the stretch. I stepped up and was in a situation where I was able to make the plays. … We're not going to settle for this. … We’re still going into that (Final Four) game thinking we can win. Why not? Why not us? Why not go win it all? That's our mindset. We feel like we can compete with anybody right now in the country.”

Lourdes Martin, Frank’s mother, told a story after the final buzzer sounded, in between hugs and tears of happiness. Her fifth-grade granddaughter, Layla, filled out a bracket after Selection Sunday and took it to school. She had the Gamecocks going all the way to the Final Four.

“They were laughing at her,” Lourdes said, laughing, too.

But Layla and Lourdes and a whole bunch of players had faith, had trust, in Martin when no one else on the outside did — and it’s paid off.

"We have a little saying that we started this year kind of when we were scrambling a little bit in late January, early February,” Martin said. "I said to our guys, ‘Have you guys ever been in a tug of war?' Some of them said yes, some said no. I said, ‘Well, if you haven't, this is how it works: You have two groups of people and they're both pulling in opposite directions. If one person on one side let's go of the rope, it's bad. I don't care how hard it is, you can't let go of the rope or your team's going to lose.' So we started saying, we're in a difficult moment right now, hold on to that rope, don't let that rope go.

"I don't care how hard it gets, don't let that rope go. Our guys are fully invested in it. So at halftimes of games, our guys don't panic. I'm the one that loses my mind. They don't panic. They stay the course, they hold on to that rope. It doesn't mean we're going to win, but they don't give in to a difficult moment. They don't throw in the towel. And that's a credit to them.”

It’s a credit to the coach, too, a coach who cares deeply about his players and inspiring them to be tough both on the court and beyond it. A coach who has earned the chance to prepare for one more game, on the sport’s grandest stage.

“I believe he was born to coach,” Lourdes said. “This is a dream come true, that he’s going to the Final Four.”

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