Everyone feels better, but did anything change?

South Carolina women’s basketball did what everyone almost certainly knew it would, demolishing SEC-worst Arkansas 95-55 in its first game following the blowout loss to UConn. It was a rare breather in the middle of a grueling SEC schedule, an opponent with worse metrics than even some of the non-conference opponents and an atmosphere that did not even resemble any of the big games of the last two months.

In a way it felt like South Carolina (24-3, 12-1) was more playing against itself than anything, especially after Dawn Staley spoke yesterday about her team getting back to its identity.

“A common theme is we just didn’t play a resemblance of who we are,” Staley said. “In the losses, the common theme has been — whether people forced us to play that way or it was self-inflicted — it really just wasn’t us, and we have to get back to us.”

Did the Gamecocks do that?

Defensively, they certainly did. South Carolina completely took SEC leading scorer Izzy Higgenbottom out of the game, holding her to 10 points on 17 shot attempts and never allowing a player more than capable of heating up quickly to find her footing. Tight coverage on the wing, solid help defense and an outstanding job by South Carolina’s point guards did the job, and particularly from MiLaysia Fulwiley. Arkansas head coach Mike Neighbors said as much post-game, crediting South Carolina’s super sub as the biggest reason his best player struggled.

“That’s a compliment,” Fulwiley said. “I take pride in my defense and I work really hard on it. Just for him to say that means that people see it and see that I’m really trying and putting effort in.”

South Carolina was always going to get whatever it wanted on offense in this game. Arkansas is dead last in the SEC in scoring defense by a considerable margin, over seven points worse than the next-closest team. But in a game where it would score at will, getting some individual players going was a positive sign.

Bree Hall hit a season-high 3-pointers, Tessa Johnson knocked down two in a row after only making five total in the last seven games, and even Maryam Dauda had nine points and eight rebounds against her former team.

“I thought she looked more relaxed than at any time during the season,” Staley said about Dauda. “She had reason to be nervous about playing against her former team, but I just thought she gave us some really good minutes. We put her in early to see what she looked like, and she just looked calm.”

It is almost unthinkable to suggest a team this talented and decorated needed some confidence, but that was the buzzword of the night. Struggling shooters saw the ball go through the basket. Fulwiley felt comfortable enough to pull off several of her dazzling moves around the basket, moves Joyce Edwards called ‘mind-blowing’ after.

Nothing is going to come this easily again until a likely No. 16 seed is on the other bench in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but the Gamecocks still greased the wheels and found some positive momentum.

“I thought we were more like ourselves when it came to just the toughness piece of it,” Staley said. “The extra effort on the board, the loose balls, I thought we wanted to win all of them. There weren’t any that we allowed to just happen without some resistance.”

In the grand scheme of things, this will be one of the more forgettable games of the regular season for South Carolina. This one will be very far in the rearview mirror by the time tomorrow’s practice starts, much less when Sunday’s tricky road test at Vanderbilt tips off.

But at least for tonight, South Carolina made it straightforward. Fulwiley had a couple dazzling highlights, the defense was lackdown and the fourth quarter allowed Staley to get her starters some rest before a two-game road swing.

“I was very confident compared to how confident I’ve been in the past,” Fulwiley said. “A lot of layups were falling for me, and I was just excited. It made me feel good about taking more layups, and my teammates pushed me through and gave me that confidence and that boost I needed.”

Calm, relaxed, confident. On a night where the outcome was never going to be in question, that qualifies as a success.

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