South Carolina heads to the bayou to face a surprising LSU team.

Aliyah Boston won’t be confused for a point guard (despite her success leading fast breaks), but she has become more of a distributor this season. It’s a subtle thing, but when Boston gets the ball, especially in the high post, she’s not only looking to score but looking at how the defense is reacting and who will be open.

It’s something Boson didn’t do last season as a freshman when she was playing off Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, and wasn’t doing earlier this season when the Gamecocks were working out some kinks. It’s also something that gives her a leg up in the hypothetical G.O.A.T.-race with A’ja Wilson.

“Aliyah’s ability to pass, her ability to facilitate at a young age, as a sophomore, separates her from A’ja,” Dawn Staley said. “We put a lot of emphasis on giving Aliyah that responsibility because she can handle it. She studies the game, she understands the game, she’s vocal out there on the floor. (...) A’ja didn’t have that until her junior or senior year and Aliyah has got it early.”

2. Zia’s Cooking

Zia Cooke broke out of a three-game shooting slump against Georgia, scoring 16 points on 7-16 shooting. It took Cooke a while to get going - she was pressing early, forcing bad shots and committing silly fouls and turnovers. Staley reminded her to simplify: shoot if she’s open, drive straight to the basket if there’s a lane, or pass when she’s guarded. In Cooke’s words, she “turned the page” and her shot started falling.

Staley wanted Cooke to work her way out of the slump. Even when she wasn’t scoring, Cooke continued to play hard and defend, which allowed Staley to keep her on the floor.

“I’m confident with Zia Shooting the basketball,” she said. “I’m not going to take that away from her because I don’t want her to get gunshy. We’re going to need her to score the ball, we’re going to shoot the ball, we’re going to need her to be Zia. She has to make the adjustment to the type of shots.”

3. Recapping Georgia

South Carolina’s 62-50 win over Georgia wasn’t the most impressive game statistically (aside from that triple-double thing), but that should be regarded as a credit to Georgia. South Carolina was up 27 midway through the fourth quarter and Georgia whittled down the deficit against South Carolina’s reserves.

Don’t let the #22 ranking fool you, Georgia is a really good team, especially on defense. The Bulldogs are ranked 13 in the NET rankings, where the name on the front of the jersey doesn’t matter. That’s ahead of teams like Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Arizona and second in the SEC. Georgia’s defense was top-30 in the country and top four in the SEC, so the Bulldogs are good at imposing their style of play on opponents.

“Winning ugly isn’t a bad thing when it’s a win,” Staley said.

With the win and Stanford’s two losses, South Carolina moved up to #2 in the NET.

4. Around the country

Speaking of Stanford’s two losses, as South Carolina keeps chugging along, other teams start falling by the wayside, much like last season. Stanford lost on the court, but teams like undefeated Louisville and NC State have been hit hard by COVID cancelations recently. UConn and Syracuse were hit earlier in the season, and then Saturday Michigan (NET #10) announced it is pausing all athletic department activities for two weeks.

All South Carolina can do is cross its fingers and hope it doesn’t happen in Columbia, but the challenging nonconference schedule is paying off, just like last season. Looking at the NET rankings, South Carolina lost to #7, has beaten #13, #17, #19, #22, #25, #27, and #28, and still has games against #1, #15, #17, #18, #27, and #34 on the schedule. That’s why, despite the loss, South Carolina was the top overall seed in the most recent Bracketology from ESPN.

In case you’re wondering, Gonzaga is #19 and South Dakota is #22, so even though those games in Sioux Falls were sloppy at times, they were big wins.

5. Scouting the Tigers

LSU had an awful nonconference season, but the Tigers have picked things up since SEC play began. They have already won twice as many games as they did in nonconference play, and the losses were at Alabama and by one point to Tennessee. Most notably, the Tigers handed Texas A&M its first loss of the season, 65-61 in Baton Rouge.

In that game, LSU got 20 points from Tiara Young, a heroic performance from point guard Khayla Pointer, and an impressive double-double from Faustine Aifuwa, who helped LSU out rebound Texas A&M. Texas A&M didn’t play its best basketball in that game, but it still shows LSU’s potential.

The Tigers were headed to the NCAA Tournament last season before it was canceled, and they play the same way this season. They slow the tempo and apply a lot of pressure on defense.

“Their matchup zone tends to give us problems and has given a lot of teams that they play in our conference problems,” Staley said. “They’re going to slow the game down and take possessions away from us. That’s challenging. We still have to play fast and push the ball down the floor and get some easy scores so we’re not playing a low-possession game.”

Given LSU’s style of play, it is tough for the Tigers to come from behind. Staley went on to say that she wants to get an early lead to help South Carolina dictate tempo.

The Ws

Who: #4 South Carolina (11-1, 6-0) at LSU (6-6, 4-2)

When: Sunday, January 24, 1:00 pm

Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, LA

Watch: SEC Network