#1 South Carolina hits the road to take on Arkansas Sunday.
1. Who is available?
According to Dawn Staley, all but one player will be available Sunday. She wouldn’t reveal who is in health and safety protocols, but she did say that all five starters are available. South Carolina will have 14 available players. That means it’s time to play everyone’s favorite game - “Spot the Gamecock.”
Looking through social media posts, we can narrow down who is out. Laeticia Amihere, who missed the last three games, was on the flight. Staley said Thursday she expected Amihere to play. Also in the pictures: Kamilla Cardoso, Olivia Thompson, and LeLe Grissett (along with starters including Brea Beal, Aliyah Boston, and Destanni Henderson). Destiny Littleton posted a picture of snow, presumably from Arkansas, but it wasn’t definite.
That leaves Elysa Wesolek and the three freshmen (Bree Hall, Saniya Rivers, and Saniya Feagin) unaccounted for.
2. Aliyah Boston vs Arkansas
To say Aliyah Boston plays well against Arkansas is an understatement. In three regular season games against Arkansas, Boston is averaging 21 points, 17.3 rebounds, and 6.0 blocks against the Razorbacks. She set the freshman rebounding record with 25 rebounds in 2020, and in one postseason meeting Boston had 13 points and 13 rebounds against the Razorbacks in the SEC Tournament. She’s had a double-double in every game, and that was before she turned into a double-double machine this season.
Arkansas, with its small-ball, four guard lineup, doesn’t have a player who can slow down Boston. Arkansas can speed up other post players (for example, Amihere struggles against Arkansas’ smaller, quicker players, and it will be interesting to see how Cardoso handles it), but Boston is unfazed. For Arkansas to have a chance, the Razorbacks are going to have to come up with some way to slow her down.
3. Make some shots
South Carolina is shooting just 42% from the floor in SEC play, and has shot under 40% in five games this season. Maryland figured out the blueprint to slowing down the Gamecocks when it went with a heavy dose of zone, packing in the defense, taking away driving lanes, and daring South Carolina to hit shots. They couldn’t, and South Carolina shot just 36.4%. Other teams have followed that blueprint, and South Carolina has not consistently shot well enough to punish them.
The inconsistency was on full display against Texas A&M. South Carolina shot just 35.3% and sometimes looked hesitant to shoot against Texas A&M’s zone. But then in the third and fourth quarters, South Carolina got a few baskets to fall and was suddenly taking - and making - shots with confidence (after Staley emptied the bench the Gamecocks went cold again, dragging the shooting percentage back down). There’s no panic from Staley.
“Our offense, besides the shooting percentage from the last game, has been pretty darn good,” Staley said. “We’re taking good shots. We really are. We’re in a position where we have an understanding where our shots are coming from. We haven’t taken bad shots. Where I see us getting better is hitting good shots and we have to put people on their heels a little bit. We have to get attacks on the basket.”
4. Defense
I mentioned in the Texas A&M postgame analysis that South Carolina is going to win with defense this season because its defense is so good. To prove the point, I’m stealing a tidbit from South Carolina’s game notes.
In the last four games, South Carolina has faced the SEC’s leading scorer Rickea Jackson (21.3 points), second-leading scorer Rhyne Howard (18.8 points), and sixth-leading scorers Dru’ena Edwards and Kayla Wells (each 16.7 points). All were held significantly below their season averages.
Jackson scored just 14 on 5-19 shooting. Howard had just nine points on 2-14 shooting, Edwards had 10 on 4-13 shooting, and Wells had 11 on 3-10 shooting.
The only player who got her average was LSU’s Khayla Pointer, who averages 18.2 points and scored 22 against South Carolina. Unlike the players South Carolina shut down, who were all wings and one post, Pointer is a lead guard and therefore a different sort of matchup.
As frustrating as the Gamecocks’ offensive issues can be at times, their defense is giving them a sizable margin for error.
5. Scouting the Razorbacks
Arkansas is in a rebuilding year following the departures of Chelsea Dungee and Destiny Slocum, but it’s still Arkansas. The Razorbacks want to space the floor, speed up the game, and take lots of threes (over 27 per game).
The Razorbacks still have Makayla Daniels (14.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 33.8% from three) and Amber Ramirez (12.4 points, 35.9% from three) leading the way, plus some talented newcomers that are still learning the ropes.
“They’re young, but you can see what they want to do,” Staley said. “They’re growing. They aren’t like they were a month ago, they’re moving in the right direction. I’m glad we’re getting them now.”
That group includes Oregon State transfer Sasha Goforth and freshman Jersey Wolfenbarger, a McDonald’s All-American. Goforth is averaging 11.8 points, and Wolfenbarger is averaging 7.1 points in just 20 minutes per game.
The Gamecocks have figured out how to handle Arkansas since the Razorbacks embarrassed them in the SEC tournament in 2019. The key is to more or less ignore them. Run your offense, get the ball inside, and don’t get sucked into their pace. When you get back on defense, guard the three-point line, because they aren’t interested in getting to the rim. It’s not a complicated game plan, but it requires discipline.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (16-1, 4-1) at Arkansas (11-5, 1-2)
When: 3:30 pm, Sunday, January 16
Where: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, AR
Watch: ESPN2
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