Published Jan 18, 2021
WBB: Five Things to Watch - Arkansas
Chris Wellbaum  •  GamecockScoop
Staff Writer
Twitter
@ChrisWellbaum

South Carolina hosts Arkansas in a top-25 matchup Monday night.

1. The Wild and Wonderful SEC

I wrote last week about how strong and deep the SEC is this season, and that depth was on full display in the last two days of games (last Thursday and Sunday). Yesterday saw short-handed Kentucky barely escape an even more short-handed Vanderbilt, which dressed just seven players. Otherwise, Sunday basically went chalk, although Texas A&M’s win over Mississippi State was an important prove it game for the Aggies.

But Thursday?

LSU, which had a miserable nonconference season, handed Texas A&M its first loss and is now 3-2 in the SEC. Alabama beat Mississippi State, which has now lost as many conference games as it did all of last season (three). Georgia won at Tennessee for the first time in 25 years. Arkansas got 33 points from Chelsea Dungee but had to endure 41 points from Lavender Briggs to beat Florida. And Ole Miss, once (and maybe still) considered a tournament team lost to Missouri to fall to 1-4 in the SEC.

Coaches love to talk about how any team could lose on any given night in the SEC, but this year that really is true.

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2. And one more thing...

I haven’t even mentioned yet what South Carolina accomplished against Vanderbilt on Thursday. South Carolina held Vanderbilt scoreless in the second quarter. South Carolina also held Ole Miss scoreless in the first quarter last season, which lessened the impact of doing it to Vanderbilt. After all, South Carolina is now averaging one shutout quarter per season over the last two years.

But I’d argue that this one was more impressive. Ole Miss’ plan last season was to slow the pace, which meant fewer possessions and fewer shots. Ole Miss attempted just nine shots with seven turnovers in their quarter. On the other hand, Vanderbilt took and missed 16 shots and had eight turnovers, many more scoring opportunities than Ole Miss had. Plus, the Rebels didn’t have anyone like Koi Love, a talented scorer who is averaging nearly 20 points per game.

Whichever shutout you prefer, I think the main takeaway is that this season’s team can be as good as last season’s. If, like me, you think it felt like this season’s team found itself in the comeback win at Kentucky, then the domination of Vanderbilt is proof of that.

3. Remember Aliyah Boston

Aliyah Boston dominated Arkansas in the three meetings last season. She had 19 points, a career-high 25 rebounds, and five blocks in the first game, 18 points, 15 rebounds, and seven blocks in the second meeting, and a relatively modest 13 points and 13 rebounds in just 24 minutes in the SEC Tournament. Boston is a matchup problem for Arkansas and its small-ball lineup, which doesn’t have anyone with the size or strength to guard Boston.

The Razorbacks’ best hope for neutralizing Boston is to speed up the game. If they can get the Gamecocks into a back-and-forth shooting contest, Boston won’t have time to establish a post presence. The onus is on the Gamecocks, especially point guard Destanni Henderson, to remember to feed Boston.

“Our post play is our strength,” Staley said. “We want to feed her. We want her to rebound the basketball.”

Staley believes the key will be finding a balance between feeding Boston while still putting pressure on Arkansas’ perimeter players. More on that below.

4. A’ja Wilson’s Statue

The statue of A’ja Wilson was installed in front of Colonial Life Arena last Thursday, and will be officially dedicated in a ceremony Monday afternoon. Due to COVID-19 restriction, the ceremony will not be open to the public. It will be a “small, invitation-only” ceremony, with speeches by Robert Caslen, Ray Tanner, Staley, and Wilson. There will also be several video elements and a ribbon cutting, and the event will be streamed live on YouTube at https://youtu.be/dW8_dtWWRZ8.

The statue was paid for with private donations from the late Dodie Anderson, Dawn Staley, and Darius Rucker. The statue was designed by Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, who also designed the statue of Michael Jordan at the United Center. The statue has a four-foot high granite base and stands over 11 feet tall.

The statue is located next to the fountain in front of the main entrance at Colonial Life Arena.

“A’aj Wilson is much deserving of a statue,” Staley said. “What she was able to do in her career here and what she continues to do outside the University of South Carolina, but (still) representing us and our state and our city. It’s only fitting to give her her flowers while she can smell them in the form of a statue.”

5. Scouting the Razorbacks

Arkansas is proof of how tough the SEC is this season. The #17 Razorbacks are a top-twenty team in the country, but are ninth in the SEC with a losing record. But those losses were all to teams ranked in last week’s top 25, so it’s not like Arkansas is struggling.

In terms of style, the Razorbacks haven’t changed much from last year, but they have added some important talent. Destiny Slocum was a two-time honorable mention all-American at Oregon State, and came to Arkansas as a grad transfer. She is averaging 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assist while shooting 38% from three. Amber Ramirez is still there, and of course there’s Chelsea Dungee. Dungee’s numbers dipped a bit last season, but she’s playing like she did when she took the SEC by storm as a sophomore and her numbers are even better. Dungee had her way with South Carolina as a sophomore, including the upset in the SEC Tournament. Last season South Carolina was able to contain her.

The challenge with Arkansas hasn’t changed: they are going to shoot a lot of threes. They are going to shoot quickly. And Dungee will try to draw fouls.

“They like to score with the least amount of dribbles, they take the first available shot,” Staley said. “The more they take, the more they’ll make. That can doom us.”

That’s where balance comes in. Feeding Boston in the post is good, but the Gamecocks can’t just walk the ball up court and dump it in to Boston, they have to apply pressure on the perimeter as well.

“We also know we have to make their guards play,” Staley said. “If they’re able to just play offense and we let them off the hook by not applying pressure on our offensive side of the ball, I think we lose. If you trade threes for twos in a game like this it will end up hurting you. We’ve got to find a way to get into their bench and make them play defense.”

The Ws

Who: #5 South Carolina (9-1, 4-0) vs #17 Arkansas (11-4, 2-3)

When: Monday, January 18, 7:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: ESPN2