South Carolina women's basketball: It's regular season Tessa Johnson time

Tessa Johnson wants to retire “Tournament Tessa.” “It’s going to be a whole year thing,” she promised this week at SEC Tipoff.

Last season, Johnson averaged 8.4 points in 21.2 minutes, along with 2.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists. She shot 47.4% overall and 43.0% from three. Those were solid numbers, and an improvement in nearly every category compared ot her freshman season.

Johnson improved noticeably as a defender, passer, and in how she played without the ball in her hand. 

But Johnson was disappointed. The averages don’t reflect her inconsistency, and she had to learn how to deal with losing for the first time, including a loss in the national championship game.

“Losing was hard and I was boiling on it a little bit. But I had people in my ear telling me, ‘You got there.’ Like, it’s still big that you got to the last game. Only two teams get to the last game, so I’m just switching my mindset to that,” Johnson said at SEC Tipoff. “(I’m) using that as motivation because I don’t want to ever have that feeling ever again. That was bad. I liked the freshman year feeling.”

Basketball was more forgiving when Johnson was a freshman. South Carolina was a deeper team and the expectations for Johnson were lower.

“She had a great freshman year,” Dawn Staley said. “I think she had a subpar sophomore year. It wasn’t like what she probably anticipated. So you’ve got to have those conversations with her about, hey, it’s time to take the next step.”

Staley started those conversations before the 2025 SEC Tournament when she said publicly that “Tournament Tessa” needed to make a comeback.

During the 2024 postseason, Johnson strung together a remarkable run. She began by sparking the lethargic Gamecocks in the SEC quarterfinals, then launched a dominant run against North Carolina, made clutch baskets against Oregon State, and capped it off with a career-high in the national championship game.

In just over a month, Johnson picked up the “Tournament Tessa” moniker and went from being anonymous to a star (I honestly think I started the name, but I’m not searching for credit or blame).

Johnson never fully embraced the nickname, and it became something of a burden last season. In March, I asked her if she liked it.

“On my end, the fact that I wasn’t playing the greatest throughout the season, no,” she told me. “I would like me to play like Tournament Tessa stinking every single game. And I need to be more consistent throughout the season. If I was consistent throughout the season and also played well in the tournament, then I would like Tournament Tessa.”

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South Carolina needs consistency from Johnson this season. With Bree Hall off to the WNBA, Johnson is expected to be a starter. If she struggles, Staley can’t just go back to Hall. Johnson also takes over Hall’s role as the primary big perimeter defender.

Staley said on the SEC Network than Johnson has grown this offseason. She learned from the adversityand got valuable experience play in the 3X3 Nationals in April.

“It is her time right now,” Staley said. “And she’s doing it every day in practice because you have to practice your time. You have  to practice it. You have to be on every single day. You have to challenge yourself and familiarize yourself with being great every day, so when the game days come, you’re just playing like you normally play.”

Without Hall or Te-Hina Paopao, also in the WNBA, Johnson is South Carolina’s only returning three-point shooter. It’s an important role with transfer Ta’Niya Latson on the team.

Latson is a talented downhill scorer who creates drive-and-kick three-point opportunities. Johnson is going to be on the receiving end of a lot of passes from Latson. 

“She’s growing,” Latson said. “We see her every day. She plays at a high level on both ends of the floor. Just playing with Tessa challenges me, being able to see options that I never got to see at Florida State. I know she’s going to knock down her shots.”

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