WBB: Five Things to Watch

After a daunting non-conference schedule, the Christmas break gave South Carolina some much-needed rest. However, the Gamecocks have returned to a world disrupted by COVID. Four of the seven SEC games scheduled for Thursday have been postponed due to COVID issues.

At home, South Carolina will be without LeLe Grissett and Saniya Rivers, who are both in health and safety protocols (Grissett also missed the Stanford game), and South Carolina’s game against Ole Miss on Sunday has already been postponed.

With players going home for the holidays and being around family and friends, the chance of exposure increased - the bubble got big, as Dawn Staley said. WIth players back on campus, Staley is optimistic South Carolina and other teams can make the bubble small again and hopefully get back to playing.

Staley had a detailed meeting with players Wednesday to go over CDC protocols and what players can do to limit the potential for exposure.

“We’re just embracing it. There’s nothing you can do besides stay vigilant and (follow) the protocols,” Staley said. “If you want to continue to be healthy and you want to continue to play, there are things that you can control and you have to do that to the best of your ability.”

South Carolina could replace Ole Miss with another opponent. It would be an SEC team that also had a game postponed, because they don’t want to risk exposure outside the conference bubble for now. The situation is changing rapidly, so it’s all hypothetical as of Thursday morning.

2. Identity Established

Staley was asked Wednesday what her takeaway from the non-conference schedule was. What pleased her most was not that South Carolina escaped undefeated, but they way it was accomplished.

“I’m happy that we were dealt some adversity. I’m happy that we found ways to win even when we didn’t play our best basketball,” she said. “I think we have an identity. I’m happy with the identity of our basketball team, just being a resilient one, being one that competes even if we don’t play our best basketball.”

3. Offensive Offense

What Staley is not happy about should be obvious: the inconsistent play on offense.

“Offensively, we’ve got to be better,” she said. “We’ve got to shoot the ball better. Our field goal percentage has to increase. It dipped over the past couple of games and we’ve got to get that back up. We’ve got to play faster. We have to make sure that we’re in a position of being able to make adjustments earlier in basketball games. It shouldn’t have to come out of halftime, change everything that we do. We’ve got to make that adjustment earlier.”

South Carolina hasn’t shot over 37% in the last three games, since shooting 42.9% against Kansas State. Destanni Henderson missed the Kansas State, Maryland, and Duke games, which played into the struggles, but she was back against Stanford and the offense still struggled.

It also coincides with a slump from Zia Cooke, who was South Carolina’s leading scorer last season. Cooke has shot just 12-59 (20.3%) over the last five games. She mustered 20 points on 5-13 shooting (and 8-10 free throws) against Maryland, but scored a total of 25 points in the other four games. Cooke seemed to miss having her backcourt mate setting her up, and also struggled against the zone defenses that took away her ability to drive to the rim. Staley said after the Duke game that sometimes Cooke needs time to gain perspective. Hopefully the break was what she needed to find herself.

4. Different challenges

South Carolina played the second-toughest non-conference schedule (with a game against UConn remaining), and only Tennessee (11th) played a schedule that could come close to that difficulty. Missouri’s strength of schedule was 75th, fourth in the SEC, but conference play presents an entirely different test.

“The conference poses different challenges because we know each other so well,” Staley said. “Any team can literally beat any team. We’re not resting on, ‘Oh we played some really good competition in the non-conference, now let’s just cruise through the league.’

“You leave one challenge and you’re faced with another one.”

5. Scouting the Tigers

The Tigers gave the Gamecocks a fight last season, keeping the game tied at halftime before falling 77-62. The Gamecocks were able to limit Aijha Blackwell to five points and 10 rebounds before fouling out. This season, Blackwell is averaging 16.6 points and leading the SEC with 12.7 rebounds, but the 6-0 wing hasn’t faced a team with the Gamecocks’ size.

Junior forward Hayley Frank is averaging 14.7 points and hitting 43.9% from three. Former Gamecock Haley Troup is contributing a team-high 3.6 assists, and another former Gamecock LaDazhia Williams is adding 8.0 points per game. Williams’ production is down from 12.4 points and 4.2 rebounds last season, although she scored in double figures the past two games.

Mizzou shoots well from three, hitting 37.2% on almost 22 attempts per game. As always, Mizzou is tough defensively, holding opponents to 38.7% shooting. But the Tigers are on the small side and don’t rebound especially well, which could be a big weakness against Aliyah Boston and the Gamecock front court.

The Ws

Who: #1 South Carolina (12-0) at Missouri (11-2)

When: 7:00 pm, Thursday, December 30

Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, MO

Watch: SEC Network

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