Jermaine Couisnard didn’t let the obvious storyline breathe more air than it needed.

Just enough to motivate him.

He left it to the national broadcasters to remind viewers of the team he once played for, while informing them with bucket after bucket, each as loud as the next, of the player he is now:

The battle-tested one who rises with the stakes.

“It wasn't about them,” he said, referring to South Carolina after his first time playing against the Gamecocks since transferring out in 2022. “It was just me being competitive.”

After Selection Sunday, Couisnard didn’t respond to texts from his former teammates Jacobi Wright and Joshua Gray about the irony intertwined into the fact that 11th-seeded Oregon drew the Gamecocks in an NCAA first round matchup.

He didn’t need to. His 40 points — the most by any Duck in an NCAA Tournament game — would speak for itself.

Thursday, Couisnard imposed his will by getting downhill and the Ducks established an inside presence, outscoring the Gamecocks 30-22 in the painted area. He was an efficient 13 of 21, while center N’Faly Dante had 23 points and was 7 of 9 from the field. The two combined for 63 points as Oregon (23-11) beat South Carolina, 87-73.

“They’ve carried us,” head coach Dana Altman said. “They’re our two most experienced guys. College basketball is geared to experience, so we geared it to them.”

They lifted the Ducks, who sputtered through the first seven minutes in which they turned it over six times.

While sloppy on offense, they would start defensive possessions in a 2-3 zone and switch into man, which did little to disrupt South Carolina. The Gamecocks (26-8) took advantage of consecutive late rotations to shooters, knocking down a pair of triples to give them a 20-14 lead 12 minutes in.

Once the Ducks protected the ball their offense began to click.

Couisnard sparked it with a right-wing 3 and a mid-range jumper on the next possession before Dante’s layup gave them a 21-20 advantage. The 7-point outburst was part of a greater 18-2 stretch where Oregon avoided mistakes and forced the Gamecocks to commit them.

The Ducks didn’t allow a field goal for 8:22. They forced a shot-clock violation at the 4:16 mark, Jadrian Tracey hit a 3 and then Couisnard started having his way.

He drove the left baseline for an and-1 layup, then rebounded guard Ta’lon Cooper’s miss before fending him off for 94-feet and another bucket.

Cooper broke the Gamecocks' drought with a 75-foot prayer at the buzzer to cut the halftime margin to 5.

“I told them, ‘It’s just one shot guys, no big deal,’” Altman said. “Our guys were excited. They knew they didn’t play as well as they wanted to. We really felt like we could pick up the pace and play a little quicker.”

That started with Jackson Shelstad anticipating Collin Murray-Boyles’ pass, his fast-break layup giving Oregon its first double-digit lead.

In the halfcourt, the Ducks continued to press the ball inside. Couisnard bullied Cooper to get to the left block and put back his missed layup. Then, after Dante swatted Cooper’s attempt, Couisnard grabbed the rebound, took three dribbles and pulled up for a 3-pointer.

“That’s when I knew I had it going,” he said.

With 14:20 remaining, he had 18 points and a burgeoning rhythm.

“They tried hedging those picks really hard and getting him out of ball screen action because he had been really successful with that,” Altman said. “He just found another way to score.”

When B.J. Mack hit a 3 to cap an 8-2 run, there was Couisnard, answering it, punishing Cooper whose hands sat at his side. When South Carolina employed a full-court press, Couisnard wove through it.

He demanded the ball when desperation fouls became the Gamecocks only salve. He shot 6 of 6 from the line. The Ducks, as a whole, were 11 of 12 down the stretch and recorded just one turnover in the second half as they closed out the Gamecocks, freshmen Shelstad and Kwame Evans embodying the composure their senior leaders exemplified.

The fortitude that defined Thursday’s win and a recent five-game winning streak.

“Jermaine and Dante have done a really good job,” Altman said. “As good as any of the great leaders we’ve had: Payton Pritchard, Eugene Omoruyi, Dillon Brooks.”

They’re certainly captaining a similar postseason push as those predecessors Altman loves to refer to. The difference, though, is the team they imbue is incomplete. Illness-and-injury-riddled. Whittled down to eight scholarship players.

Eight, however, who seem to be jelling.

A tightened rotation buying into their roles and their coach’s philosophy that, if they rebound, defend and take care of the ball, they’ll be in good shape, as Couisnard said.

The senior guard nodded Altman’s way when asked about why he and Dante have developed such a connection of late.

“Because of this guy,” he said.

That guy who will have his own national storyline Saturday when Oregon faces third-seeded Creighton, where Altman coached for 16 years.