South Carolina makes the trip to Sioux Falls for a pair of games at the Sanford Pentagon this weekend.

1. No Oklahoma

On Thanksgiving Day Oklahoma announced it was forced to withdraw from the Women's Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic due to a lack of available players. Obviously, South Carolina's Sunday game against the Sooners was canceled as a result. Organizers reshuffled the games and Monday's game against #21 Gonzaga has been moved to Sunday. South Carolina still plays South Dakota on Saturday, but tipoff for both games has been changed to 3:00 pm EST.

It’s not lost on anyone that the Women's Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic is being played in the middle of an area that has been hit harder by the coronavirus than anywhere in the world.

“Does it scare me? Absolutely. Does it scare our players? Absolutely. We’d be lying to you if we told you we weren’t concerned about it,” Dawn Staley said. “Here’s the good thing about South Dakota. Anywhere in the country we go, we’re not going to get the testing that we’re getting in South Dakota in the bubble that’s created there. That’s one. Two, there’s a men’s tournament that’s going on as we speak, and we’ve got a close eye on what’s going on there.”

Staley was able to find a silver lining. Once South Carolina arrived in Sioux Falls, she added to her baseball collection with an autographed ball from Penny Hardaway, who is coaching on the men’s side. And associate head coach Lisa Boyer has already started working on next week.

“Coach Boyer got lucky,” Staley said. “She had the Oklahoma scout, so she’s on to NC State.”

2. Big Week

Next week will be a huge week for South Carolina. It will face three ranked opponents in eight days: #21 Gonzaga on Sunday, #8 NC State on Thursday, and at #15 Iowa State next Sunday. And South Carolina isn’t starting with a pushover: South Dakota would be ranked 27th if the polls went that far.

Staley wanted a challenging nonconference schedule, and she got it. That is, if the games get played. Iowa has the third worst outbreak in the United States, behind the Dakotas.

3. Safe travels

Both Staley and Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier commented that flying to Sioux Falls was about the most normal thing they have done this season (South Dakota only had to travel about 60 miles, so it wasn’t the same for the Coyotes).

“We were on the plane today and even though we have these masks and goggles we’ve got to wear, it was the most normal thing we’ve done in a long time,” Fortier said. “We’re really grateful for that.”

Staley said the Gamecocks were more spread out than usual, which was nice for everyone but Victaria Saxton.

“On the bus we protected the bus driver and sat a few rows back,” Staley said. “Everybody actually had their own seat on the plane, so that was pretty cool. That was a little bit different than we usually do. Some players like to sit with each other. Victaria is a little afraid to fly so she always feels comfortable when someone sits next to her. She was all alone but she had Aliyah in front of her to comfort her.”

4. Scouting the Coyotes

The Gamecocks and Coyotes met last season in Columbia (that’s how we know it’s “Ki-yotes”), and the Gamecocks easily took care of the then-#25 Coyotes 73-60. That was the last game before a ten-day holiday break for the Gamecocks and it was occasionally sloppy, including a poor fourth quarter that allowed the Coyotes to make a 20-point game look closer than it really was. LeLe Grissett (17 points) and Zia Cooke (13) were the only Gamecocks in double figures scoring. The Coyotes were led in that game by senior Ciara Duffy, who has since graduated. South Dakota lost two starters and its top reserve to graduation. Center Hannah Sjerven and guard Chloe Lamb are now seniors and will look to fill that void.

“Our identity is going to be a little bit different,” Dawn Plitzuweit said. “What that is I’m not exactly sure.”

Sjerven averaged 12.2 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds last season, but had just five points and six rebounds as she struggled with foul trouble against South Carolina last season. Lamb had 13 points in that game, but was just 1-4 from three. That was part of a team-wide problem, as South Carolina locked in behind the arc and held South Dakota to just 3-17 (17.6%), well below its season average of 38.5 percent. Staley is concerned about the three-point shooting and zone defense.

“We really don’t have anybody in our league that plays like them,” Staley said. “It’s not going to be a walk in the park. They make you adjust to their style of play.”

The Coyotes have yet to play this season, so the Gamecocks have the advantage of the tune-up game against College of Charleston.

“They are the best team in the country,” Plitzuweit said. “They have the ability to push it up the court and score so fast you don’t even know what happened. The good news for us is that we’ve had an opportunity to play them one time in the past. At least we can show some film to our team and say yes, this is legit how fast they are.”

Plitzuweit’s biggest concern is keeping South Carolina off the glass. She was amazed that South Carolina got 73 rebounds against College of Charleston, asking if that was the NCAA record. Told the record is actually 92 by Pitt back in 1982, she said, “Don’t tell our team because I told them it had to be the NCAA record.” Plitzuweit also probably doesn’t want to be told that Staley complained about the defensive rebounding Wednesday, when College of CHarleston grabbed 18 offensive rebounds.

The game last season was the first part of a home-and-home series. South Carolina was supposed to play at South Dakota, which is located about an hour southwest of Sioux Falls, this season, but the pandemic forced that game to be rescheduled. Staley said she is “hoping” this game fulfills the requirement, but if the Coyotes disagree she is willing to play again next year.

5. Scouting the Bulldogs

South Carolina and Gonzaga have never met, and for Gonzaga Sunday’s game will be its first of the season. Opening against the number one team in the country, and a team that already has two games under its belt, isn’t ideal, but after struggling to get any games scheduled, Fortier thinks the Zags are ready to roll with whatever happens.

“I’m not overemphasizing the fact that they’re the number one team in the country because it really doesn’t matter,” she said. “Mostly at this time we’re worried about ourselves because there’s new personnel (and) things are different, but we have scouted them too.”

Under Fortier, the Zags have won four straight WCC titles and five in the last six years. They are led by senior guard Jill Townsend, the reigning WCC Player of the Year. Townsend averaged 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists last season and shot 41% from three. She also was recently named to the Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List.

The game will be a contrast in styles, with the Gamecocks wanting to run and push the tempo and the Zags trying to slow things down. Even if the Zags are able to play at their pace, they will have to deal with Aliyah Boston.

“Their transition game is really good,” Fortier said. “They are big and physical. They play a little bit more physical than we’re used to seeing, and we try to simulate that the best we can. We’re going to have to defend penetrations. They’ve got a lot of players that can be disruptive to our defense if we let them do what they want. Obviously Boston’s a problem for everybody, so we’re going to have to figure out what we can do about her.”

The Ws

Who: #1 South Carolina vs South Dakota, #1 South Carolina vs #21 Gonzaga

When: Saturday, November 28, and Sunday, November 29, both games at

Where: Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls, SD

Watch: FloHoops.com