GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Dawn Staley could have awarded the “true MVP” to any number of players on Sunday — Tessa Johnson, Joyce Edwards or Chloe Kitts to a name a few — following top-ranked South Carolina’s tight 89-85 win over No. 3 USC on Sunday.
Instead she gave it to Rita Jacobs, the wife of the team’s 16th-year video coordinator Hudson Jacobs.
It was Hudson who made the call to challenge a key play with 15 seconds left that helped turn the tide for the Gamecocks (4-0) and ultimately secure a big early-season win.
After South Carolina's Jordan Lee chased down JuJu Watkins and blocked a driving layup causing the ball to go out of bounds under the USC basket, Jacobs alertly turned to his tablet for another look.
He advised Staley to challenge the play while the Trojans were in a timeout setting up an inbounds play.
Staley did, and officials overturned their initial call, awarding the ball to South Carolina after ruling the ball had hit off Watkins’ hand after the block.
Johnson was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and made two free throws to make it a two-possession game, helping seal the South Carolina win.
“I happened to be looking at (the play) at the right angle and I thought I saw a change in direction on the ball. I said, let me take a quick a look at this,” Jacobs told The Associated Press after the game. “I don’t like to tell coach to (challenge) unless I’m absolutely sure.”
Jacobs wouldn't have even been at the game without the support — and urging — of his wife Rita.
Rita underwent surgery last Sunday and was released from the hospital on Thursday. Hudson has been by her side ever minute of the way, causing him to miss South Carolina’s last two games.
But the couple talked Sunday morning and she urged him to go to game.
So Hudson jumped in his own car and drove 90 miles to meet the team at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville.
“Family is always most important,” Hudson Jacobs told The Associated Press after the game. “We talked this morning, and I don't know, maybe I have been hovering a little too much, but she was like, ‘go, go, go, go!’”
Little did he know he would up being at the center of a controversial and game-turning call.
He felt in his gut the ball went off Watkins' hands and that officials would overturn the call and award the ball to South Carolina. Hudson Jacobs and Staley have built a strong bond over the years, and she didn't question his decision to use a challenge.
“He really made the call,” Staley said. “They called a timeout and they were setting up a play and then I got word from him that we should challenge and I challenged at that moment. It was truly the play of the game. ... So, shoutout to Rita and Hudson for making a big play for us.”
Hudson said Staley was right in calling Rita, not him, the “real MVP.”
She has always been his.
“She always sacrifices for my job and the things that I have to do and the hours that it takes and the time that I'm gone,” Jacobs said. “She always plays a major part. She helps keeps me going. So I appreciated her being OK with me coming here.”
USC Lindsay Gottlieb questioned the officials' decision after the game, saying she didn’t see enough evidence to warrant the initial call being overturned.
“The call was made to be our ball under the basket out of bounds, so it has to be overly conclusive for it to go the other way,” Gottlieb said. “I watched it and it was close, really close. It's a tough call.”
She also questioned why the Trojans were charged a timeout after South Carolina requested the challenge.
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