SOUTH CAROLINA BASKETBALL

South Carolina hosts Duke Thursday night for the Teddy Bear Toss game.

1. About last year...

Oh wait - that game was canceled due to inclement weather. Let’s start over:

1. Teddy Bear Toss

I don’t normally spend a lot of time on the Gamecocks’ promotional efforts, but this one is different. It is for a good cause and the origin of the idea is pretty unique. Teddy bear tosses, where fans throw teddy bears or other stuffed animals onto the playing surface to be donated to local charities, are popular in minor league hockey, especially with the Hershey bears. A Twitter user with the handle @kaycetackett passed along video of the Bears’ teddy bear toss to Dawn Staley, and asked if the Gamecocks could do the same thing.

Staley loved the idea, and put planning into motion. They settled on the Duke game for the teddy bear toss (although they don’t have to be teddy bears).

There is a challenge with VCU, who collected 708 bears, to see who can collect the most teddy bears, and even the Blue Devils are supporting the cause.

Anyone wanting to donate a teddy bear that is unable to attend the game can send bears to the women’s basketball offices at 1051 Blossom St., Columbia, SC 29208. The university is warning fans to expect longer lines and security tonight.

2. Transition game

South Carolina was very successful in speeding up Purdue, both offensively and defensively. South Carolina used a full court press, occasionally trapping, to force 19 turnovers, but even when Purdue didn’t turn the ball over, they were rushed. By the same token, South Carolina pushed the tempo whenever possible, running out on turnovers and missed shots, and attacking the basket in the half court. It didn’t always work (Purdue was able to block 11 shots), but overall it was exactly what Staley wanted to see. South Carolina got 24 fast break points and 50 points in the paint.

The Gamecocks didn’t get those 50 points in the paint by walking the ball up and dumping it in to Aliyah Boston every time. They got it by driving to the basket and good passing when the defense collapsed.

Staley wants the Gamecocks to get 30 percent of their points in transition, and they were close with 28 percent against Purdue. She complemented Temple for slowing the game, saying the lack of transition scoring was what led to the closer than expected game. The Gamecocks had 18 fast break points in that game, 23 percent.

“We don’t get enough transition buckets,” Staley said. “In the Temple game we walked the ball up a lot and that’s not our tempo. We have to push the pace.”

At this point in the season, statistics are still a little screwy. The sample size is small enough that one game can skew the averages, and about half the games have been so lopsided that the starters didn’t play in the fourth quarter and the Gamecocks tried to run down the shot clock on every possession. But there are some trends.

Looking at the five highest scoring games of the season, including Purdue, South Carolina had 25 fast break points in a 103-43 win over Alabama State (25 percent). It had 33 in the 112-32 shellacking of USC Upstate (29 percent), and 26 in the 84-48 rout of Clemson (31 percent). The lone outlier is Appalachian State, when just 14 of the 92 points came in transition (15 percent). But that game defies most conventional basketball knowledge by virtue of the 32-0 run to start the game.

South Carolina had 19 transition points against Maryland, which was right at that 30 percent mark. However, it had just nine in the loss to Indiana. And in the rock fight against Baylor, when South Carolina was focused on getting the ball to Boston, it had just four of its 74 points in transition.

“Those numbers have been off the last couple of games, so we have to get back to it,” Staley said.

Transition defense has also been impressive. Purdue had just ten fast break points, and is only the third team to reach double figures. Maryland and Washington State each had 15. Most impressive is that twice, against Clemson and Indiana, South Carolina held its opponent without a single transition basket.

“We always try to rely on our defense, because our defense can get us going on offense,” Tyasha Harris said.

3. Destanni and Zia

In the balanced win over Purdue, South Carolina got solid games from Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson. Cook had several highlight reel plays, as she tends to do, but also scored an efficient 14 points. Henderson led South Carolina with 15 points and also chipped in six rebounds.

For Henderson, it was her second straight game in double figures, and fifth of the season. She is averaging 9.5 points per game, and is playing her best basketball since a six game stretch last season when she averaged 12.8 points per game. While that stretch was something of a hot-shooting blip - Henderson scored over 45 percent of her total points last year during those six games - this feels more sustained and balanced. She is the third guard behind Cooke and Harris, and has actually played the third most minutes on the team, while becoming comfortable running the team or looking for her own shot. She is the Gamecocks’ best three-point shooter, tied for the team lead in steals, and second in assists.

“Destanni Henderson has been playing great,” Staley said. “Just really, really, really solid on both sides of the basketball.”

For Cooke, not only was it her second-highest scoring game of the season, she broke out of a slump that began in the Virgin Islands. Cooke had scored just 11 points total over the last three games, and hadn’t reached double figures since scoring ten - while shooting just 4-19 - against Indiana. Cooke went 7-16 against Purdue, 44 percent, her third best shooting percentage of the season.

“Zia got it going and it's always good to get her going, especially because she hasn’t shot the ball extremely well,” Staley said. “It was good to see the ball go in for her.”

At one point in the first half, Cooke missed a pair of threes in quick succession, and I noted that she makes herself easy to guard when she settles for threes. Cooke is nearly impossible to guard off the dribble, and while she still needs to take open shots, she shouldn’t eliminate the threat. Her teammates told her the same thing. Cooke didn’t take another three, and it was no coincidence that her numbers got better when she attacked the rim.

“I’m very comfortable,” Cooke said. “My teammates make me comfortable, they help me be able to play my game.”

4. No beer… yet

As you probably heard, South Carolina will begin selling beer and wine at sporting events on January 1, 2020. Functionally, that means the first game with alcohol sales will be women’s basketball against Kentucky on January 2. Staley has not expressed an opinion for or against sales.

“It doesn’t matter to us, as long as no one gets hurt,” Staley said. “If we drink responsibly, and I think our fans will do that, we should be okay.”

However, it should be good news for Texas A&M coach Gary Blair, who quipped after a 79-61 loss at Colonial Life Arena in 2015, “Y’all might have the best concessions. I hope y’all weren’t selling beer up there (because) I could use one right now.”

5. Scouting the Blue Devils

The Duke program has slipped a bit in the past few years and is not quite where it was when the series began five years ago. Plagued by injuries, the Blue Devils were just 15-15 last season, their fewest wins since 1993. Duke is no longer built around strong post players who want to slow the pace and pound the ball inside. Now, like South Carolina, they want to run.

“They’re shooting a lot faster than they used to,” Staley said. “They’re getting up and down the floor and taking the first available shot. We’ve got to make sure we stay engaged and match up and guard the three.”

Everything Duke does revolves around guard Haley Gorecki. Last season, she became the first player in program history to lead the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists. She’s become more efficient this season, and her scoring and assist numbers have gone up. Gorecki is averaging 18.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists this season. Last year she took almost seven three-pointers per game, a school record, but this year she is only attempting 5.3 as she has more help around her. South Carolina will try to guard Gorecki with different players.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to sustain and give her different looks and hopefully over the course of 40 minutes she won’t be as effective,” Staley said.

The Ws

Who: #5 South Carolina vs Duke

When: Thursday, December 19, 7:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: SEC Network