SOUTH CAROLINA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

South Carolina and Missouri renew their rivalry Monday night, with both teams trying to keep pace with Mississippi State.

1. Keep Calm

South Carolina saw its eight game winning streak snapped Thursday at Mississippi State. It was a typical game between the two, close for three quarters before one team pulled away in the fourth. It shouldn’t be hard for South Carolina to move on from the loss, with Missouri up next. Instead, the concern is that they might get to emotional.

The series with Mississippi State has been marked by mutual respect, high-level basketball, and great players making great plays. The series with Missouri has been almost the exact opposite. Missouri has succeeded in junking up the game to neutralize South Carolina’s talent advantage (that’s actually a compliment, though it doesn’t make for pretty basketball), the disdain between the programs begins at the top and goes all the way down, and the dirty play from Missouri nearly started a brawl in the last game between the two. In the face of all this, South Carolina has to maintain its composure.

“It’s all we’re focused on, is the basketball part of it,” Dawn Staley said. “You’ve got to play the game. The fans and everybody else, they worry about all that other stuff. We’re worried about getting another win in the SEC.”

Staley even took the highly unusual step of trying to set up a meeting between the two teams. When she spoke to the media Sunday, Staley said that she and Missouri coach Robin Pingteon had been playing phone tag, and nothing was certain given the logistics of getting together the night before the game.

“I spoke to Robin sometime in July about possibly getting our teams together. That’s not something I wanted the media to know about because now I’ve got to answer questions about whether we got together. I don’t know. It’s the night before the game.”

2. All About Sophie

Any conversation about Missouri is 80 percent Sophie Cunningham. For better and worse, she defines Missouri basketball. She’s talented and relentless, the type of all-around player who can make whatever play Missouri needs to win. She’s also a dirty player who has no problem with a late shove or an elbow that somehow always “accidentally” finds her opponent’s jaw. Her defenders have an excuse for every dirty play, but she wouldn’t need the excuses if she weren’t doing it in the first place.

Now in her senior season, Cunningham’s reputation for being dirty has equalled her reputation for winning. She is despised throughout the SEC, and her me against the world attitude might be taking a toll. Cunningham’s numbers are down significantly this season. Her scoring average has dipped three points per game, and her shooting percentage is down seven percent both behind the arc and overall. And Cunningham is being called for fouls in bunches. She has fouled out five times this season, as officials have finally gotten wise to all the extra contact she makes.

But that in no way means Cunningham and Missouri aren’t dangerous. She’s still good, they’re still good, and she still gets under opponents’ skin.

“You try to make her work for her catches, you try to contest all her shots, and you try to make her work on both ends of the court,” Staley said. She also talked about not retaliating if there is a late shove. “We discussed that. We discussed keeping your composure.”

3. Free tickets

As the partial government shutdown enters its fourth week, the Gamecocks have offered a small consolation to federal employees who have been furloughed or who are working without pay. Federal employees can claim up to four free tickets to any women’s or men’s basketball game for the duration of the shutdown.

In a release, South Carolina said, “federal government employees can claim up to four complimentary tickets for immediate family members per game by showing a valid federal government ID at the Colonial Life Arena Ticket Office, which opens 2.5 hours before tipoff.”

Staley offered her thanks to the affected workers on Twitter, and invited them to come to a game.

There are more than 33,000 federal employees in the state of South Carolina.

4. We Back Pat

Monday’s game is South Carolina’s annual We Back Pat game. The game is part of a conference-wide We Back Pat Week, a week-long initiative focused on bringing awareness and recognition to the Pat Summitt Foundation. The foundation was started by legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt to help advance research for treatment and a cure, provide care and support for patients and caregivers, and educate the public about Alzheimer's disease. South Carolina will wear specially designed shirts for the game.

5. Scouting the Tigers

Missouri is tied with South Carolina in second place in the SEC, and has lost just four times this season, but those losses are glaring. The SEC loss was to previously winless Florida, which one game earlier was run off the court by South Carolina. Out of conference, Missouri had home losses to South Dakota and Green Bay, who are both having quality seasons but should not have won at Missouri, and a neutral court to a very average Michigan team.

“They have really smart players who can create for others,” Staley said. “The direct line drives do give me nightmares.”

Missouri’s biggest problem, as it has been for a couple of years, is that it has no plan B after Cunningham. She had just nine points and four fouls against Michigan, eight against Green Bay before fouling out, 19 against South Dakota before fouling out, and four points before fouling out against Florida.

The trend dates back to the end of last season, when Florida Gulf Coast easily upset Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. In that game, Florida Gulf Coast decided to let Cunningham score, but lock down on everyone else, then go right at Cunningham on defense. The plan worked perfectly, and Cunningham was almost a liability. By the end of the game, exhausted and saddled with four fouls, she frequently didn’t bother to even cross half court defensively, and when she did she could only watch as players went after her. She scored 35 points, but they were hollow points, since she gave up almost as many.

Missouri has a familiar name, if not a face, for South Carolina. Redshirt freshman Haley Troup signed with South Carolina out of high school and participated in offseason activities with South Carolina, including a trip to Japan. But following the trip she decided to transfer, and went to Missouri. Troup sat out last season, and has been inconsistent this season. She scored 16 in the win over Tennessee and 14 against West Virginia, but those two game represent nearly half of her total scoring output this season (Troup has just 39 point sin the other 16 games)

The Ws

Who: #15 South Carolina (12-5, 4-1) vs Missouri (15-4, 4-1)

When: Monday, January 21, 7:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: ESPN2

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