Sacramento, Calif- South Carolina has been a machine over the last six years. They have made it to six straight Elite Eights, and on Monday night, they secured their sixth straight Final Four appearance after defeating TCU, 78-52, to secure the Sacramento Region 4 crown.
However, this team is different from years past: 42% of their roster was made up of newcomers, and they returned just two starters from last year after Chloe Kitts was injured before the season.
Usually, newcomers don’t play much under Dawn Staley. They develop in the South Carolina system over a year or two and then dominate as upperclassmen. This year, however, they’ve been key. Transfer Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot have stepped in and been starters right away, and as seniors, they brought extensive college basketball experience.
The Gamecocks are also equipped with a freshmen who has become their X-factor during this tournament stretch – Agot Makeer.
“I’ve been saying, Goti [Agot Makeer] is the X-factor of this team,” senior guard Raven Johnson said to reporters after Monday’s game. “She’s a silent killer. She’s not afraid. She’s not afraid of anybody and her confidence is through the roof through this March Madness tournament, it’s showing.”
Makeer came to South Carolina as the No.6 recruit in the country according to ESPNW. A native of Ontario, Canada, Makeer played for the U-19 Canadian national team in 2025. She started some games early in her career at South Carolina, but also missed eight games during the season due to two separate injuries.
When Makeer was out during the season with an injury, she fell down the pecking order. The injuries also prevented her from stringing together consistent practice days, which Staley feels is key for players to break into the rotation. However, once she returned, other players were injured, which pushed her back into the rotation.
“I think with Goti, she was in and out with injuries,” Staley said at the postgame press conference on Monday. “Then we had some other injuries, and she got pushed up to knowing that she was going to play. I do think she’s a different player when she knows she’s going to play…we also just challenged her. We just really challenged her to go out there and be who she is. She’s had a tremendous postseason and her future is bright.”
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Coming into the NCAA tournament, Makeer had scored in double figures just three times this season. However, something changed once the lights of March turned on. She started the tournament with 16 points, a career high, in the Gamecocks first round win against Southern. She followed it up with 15 points against USC in the second round.
She started the Sacramento Regional with another double-digit scoring output, putting up 10 against Oklahoma. However, she saved her best performance for the regional final against TCU. She scored a career-high 18 points while making a career-high eight field goals. She said coming into the postseason, Staley and the staff challenged her to elevate her game.
“I feel like all the assistant coaches and everybody has been putting an emphasis on me to elevate,” Makeer said in the postgame press conference after Monday’s win. “For me to rise and just be in that spotlight. I’m in a flow right now. In this tournament, I’ve just thought whatever I can do to get this team a win is what I need to do.”
Makeer came in early in the game on Saturday and made an immediate difference. When she subbed in during the first quarter, South Carolina was down six. In her first possession, she had assisted Joyce Edwards. Then, she grabbed a rebound and hit a pull-up jumper. Overall, in the 13 minutes she was in during the first and second quarters, South Carolina outscored TCU by 13 points. Overall, Makeer finished with a game-high 18 in her 31 minutes of game action.
Even with the big offensive output, Makeer made as big an impact on the defensive end. She was consistently tasked with guarding Olivia Miles, making life difficult for the Big 12 Player of the Year. Miles scored 18 points, but she shot 30% from the floor. It was only the fourth time all year she’s shot 30% or worse from the floor. During the weekend, Makeer guarded both Miles and Oklahoma freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez.
“I’m just proud. Just proud,” Staley said postgame. “I could see how talented she is. Like super talented. When the talent isn’t always reaching their potential, but you see it and there’s growth. We never stopped thinking about the contributions that Agot could give to us. It’s always, like, she’s super talented, when is it going to click? And then we just kind of stayed with it. She’s playing lights out. She’s making great basketball plays on both sides of the ball.”
After the Gamecocks won, Makeer embraced her head coach. To many on the outside, Staley is a legend and a celebrity, but Makeer feels Staley plays an even more significant role in her players’ lives. To her, she is more than just a coach, too.
To her, Staley feels like a mother at times, something that multiple players have said of the Gamecocks coach in the past. Staley feels like she and her staff have conditioned their players to handle the hard truth, which has allowed them to have deeper relationships.
For Staley, making the Final Four with five newcomers who haven’t experienced it before was gratifying. She didn’t know coming into the year if the newcomers would be able to handle the pressures of playing for South Carolina. She also didn’t know if the newcomers would try to do their own thing when they came into the year, but she had them let their guard down and fill their roles to the best of their ability.
“This year’s team, there were just a lot of unknowns.” Staley said before Monday’s game. “You don’t know how they’re going to handle the pressures of playing for us, the pressures of getting back to this point right here. I think it’s attributed to them and their willingness to listen and be coached and be coached hard and actually do the hard things.”
It started with the two transfers in Latson and Okot. Okot has scored double figures in 10 of the Gamecocks’ last 14 games. Latson put up an almost season-high 28 points in South Carolina’s Sweet Sixteen win. However, both came to Columbia with prior experience. They could have easily tried to make South Carolina fit them, but instead, they understood what was needed of them and found a way to fit into the Gamecock standard.
Then you have Makeer, who wasn’t playing a big role but finally had the opportunity to string together good practice days late in the season. She changed her mindset starting in the SEC tournament. She started approaching games differently, and it’s what allowed her to be so impactful during this NCAA tournament run.
She has found a rhythm, and if she can keep playing at this level, South Carolina could win another national championship.
Looking for more March Madness stories? Read all our NCAA Tournament coverage at The IX Sports.
