WBB: Five Things to Watch - Bye Week
South Carolina is off Thursday night, but while the Gamecocks are out of sight, they’re not out of mind.
1. Get Zia Cooking
Cooke started out the season strong. She had 17 points against NC State, 20 against Oregon, and another 17 against UConn. When the Gamecocks returned from the Bahamas, Cooke was averaging 13.5 points. Even better, she was shooting 49.1% from the floor, a full ten percentage points higher than her career shooting percentage.
We all know what happened next: a month-long slump. Cooke gutted out a 20-point game against Maryland, but still shot just 5-13. She finally got right against Mississippi State, scoring 18 points, and followed that with 17 (including some clutch buckets late) against LSU, and 19 against Kentucky. But as soon as she got right, things went wrong again. Cooke was 3-16 against Texas A&M and 1-7 against Arkansas before a left foot injury sidelined her for most of the second half.
Whether cause or effect, when Cooke shoots well, the Gamecock offense performs well. The Gamecocks’ offensive struggles didn’t begin until the same time Cooke’s shot stopped falling, and her three-game spurt occurred during the Gamecocks’ three best offensive games. Opponents’ zone defenses have turned Cooke into a jump-shooter instead of a slasher, which is what she excels at. If Cooke’s injury lingers, it could compound the issue.
Dawn Staley called Cooke’s injury an ankle sprain, and said she could have returned against Arkansas. But it didn’t look like a normal ankle sprain, and even still, ankle sprains can linger. Cooke relies on her quickness and explosiveness, and an ankle injury could limit her ability to get to the rim.
2. Lady Vols
#5 Tennessee is in first place in the SEC with a 6-0 record. South Carolina is in second at 5-1. The teams meet only once this season, so they both control their own destiny. But if South Carolina wants to win the SEC outright, it needs Tennessee to slip up at some point. That means every game for the Lady Vols is of interest to the Gamecocks.
Tennessee is off Thursday, but has a big game Sunday at #13 Georgia. South Carolina hosts Tennessee on February 20 in a game that will likely decide the top seed in the SEC Tournament.
Tennessee could also be a threat to South Carolina when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina wants to be placed in the Greensboro region. Tennessee, also, would like to be a one seed in the Greensboro region. South Carolina would have to lose to Tennessee, and probably a couple of other games, to lose Greensboro, but it could happen (at that point, South Carolina would have bigger issues than geography).
3. Make-up game?
South Carolina still needs to make up for the postponed game against Ole Miss. As it stands, South Carolina is only scheduled to play 15 conference games. South Carolina and Ole Miss do not share any open dates the rest of the season, which means if South Carolina is to make up the game, it likely needs a different opponent. Auburn, LSU, and Tennessee also had open dates Thursday night, but obviously no game was scheduled. South Carolina has another open date February 6 (the original date for the rescheduled Mississippi State game). Auburn, Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi State also have open dates that weekend. Anybody up for round two against Mizzou?
4. Record watch
South Carolina leads the nation in blocked shots per game, averaging 8.4, more than a block ahead of second place Oregon State. That is just behind the NCAA record of 8.6, set by South Carolina in 2019-20.
On the subject of blocks, Aliyah Boston is eighth in the country in blocked shots per game. Boston is second in career blocks at South Carolina, with 221. She’s got a ways to go to catch A’ja Wilson’s record of 363, but she’s got a chance to catch Wilson next season. Victoria Saxton has moved into seventh place on the career list with 150 blocks. She should move into the top five this season.
Boston has 221 blocks in 82 games, for an average of 2.695 blocks per game. Wilson currently has the career record of 2.63.
Boston has moved into a tie with Denise Nanney for fifth place with 42 career double-doubles. At her current pace of a double-double in every game… Well she can’t possibly keep that up, can she? But Sheila Foster’s untouchable record of 72 double-doubles is looking pretty touchable.
Elsewhere in the record book, Boston and Cooke share second place in consecutive games started, with 82. They are chasing Tiffany Mitchell’s record of 103.
5. Aliyah Boston
If we’re being literal about things to watch, we have to include Boston, who is playing at an extraordinary level.
She is the presumptive national player of the year. She is rewriting the South Carolina record book, including untouchable records that were just rewritten by A’ja Wilson a few years ago. She’s playing at a level where opposing coaches just shake their heads and say, she’s too good.
Boston can shoot the three, score off the bounce, score on the low post, distribute form the high post, rebound, block shots, defend every position on the court, defend both parts of the pick and roll, break the press, organize the defense, and make free throws.
She’s also, to borrow a phrase from Frank Martin, a beautiful human being. Boston is modest, almost to a fault. She can say “I’m just trying to be dominant” and have it sound bashful, not arrogant.
You don’t see athletes play at Boston’s level very often, and it is special to watch.
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