SOUTH CAROLINA BASKETBALL
Dawn Staley returns to her hometown as South Carolina visits Temple.
1. Homecoming
After avoiding her former team for years, Staley finally returned two years ago to be a part of the jersey retirement ceremony for one of her former players, Candice Dupree. That homecoming included not only the jersey retirement, but a surprise ceremony to rename a part of the street where Staley grew up “Dawn Staley Lane.” Temple played the return game in Columbia last year, and they chose to extend the series at least another two years.
2. Boston’s honors continue
Earlier this week, Aliyah was named SEC and National Freshman of the Week. It is already her third SEC Freshman of the Week award, and it’s time to start tracking the numbers. A’ja Wilson holds the school record with five freshman of the week honors, and all signs point to Boston breaking that record. The conference record is eight freshman of the week awards, set last season’s by Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard, who broke the record set by Wilson.
Boston also nabbed Paradise Jam MVP honors last week, and this week was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list along with Tyasha Harris. Boston is the only freshman on the watch list, and she has established herself as a game-changer and arguably South Carolina's most important player. In each of South Carolina’s two biggest games of the season, she led the team in scoring, and South Carolina’s lone loss came in a game where she was sidelined for long stretches with foul trouble. Boston is averaging 14.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks per game, while having turned the ball over just four times all season.
3. Scheduling quirks
The Gamecocks went from playing four games in seven days last week to just one game in a span of 14 days. The rapid succession of games is always a good thing, especially with all the freshmen, and that’s why teams schedule the Thanksgiving tournaments.
“During that time you can figure out whether you’ve got some chemistry or not,” assistant coach Fred Chmiel said. “They did a fantastic job. Our players are meshed together very well.”
The long gaps between games, on the other hand, is a problem, again, especially with all the freshmen. This week was sort of a recovery week, and then next week is exams (another new challenge for the freshmen). Even after that, the games in December are sparse. There are just three more games over the last 17 days of the month, and then SEC play starts January 2.
With few games to measure the results from practice, coaches have to find different ways to motivate players.
“It’s about details, it’s about the little things,” Chmiel said. “Every little thing we tell them to do we want them to execute it.”
4. Continuing chaos
Thanks to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, we got a series of games that will shake up the polls once again. First, #21 Miami lost to #14 Indiana on Wednesday. Then there was more chaos on Thursday as #13 NC State upset #9 Maryland and then #19 Michigan State lost to #8 Florida State in a matchup of teams that always end up in South Carolina’s part of the bracket. The biggest upset of the season also occurred as unranked Ohio State knocked off newly-#2 Louisville (meaning, for those counting, that Ohio State football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball each beat a top ten opponent over a span of six days). At this point the only thing we know is there are a lot of really good teams but nobody that is clearly unbeatable.
5. Scouting the Owls
Temple is 5-4 this season and lost both games in the Cancun Challenge before a win over Towson on Wednesday. They are led by Mia Davis, who is averaging 20.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Davis had 19 points and 10 rebounds against the Gamecocks as a freshman, a performance that put her name on the map. She struggled last season, with only 10 points and six rebounds. Ashley Jones, a redshirt sophomore who played a year at West Virginia before transferring back home, has been a surprise so far, averaging 17.3 points and 5.6 rebounds, although she is shooting just 40 percent from the floor.
“They put the ball on the floor pretty well, they can get to the basket,” Chmiel said. “They’ve got a couple of players that are extremely talented in one-on-one situations.”
The Ws
Who: #6 South Carolina vs Temple
When: Saturday, December 7, 3:00 pm
Where: McGonigle Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: OwlsTV (streaming LINK)
