South Carolina women's basketball: Freshmen lead rout of Coastal Carolina
South Carolina wrapped up the pre-SEC portion of its schedule with a 102-39 rout of Coastal Carolina.
WBB: Freshmen lead rout of Coastal Carolina
- Thread starter Brian Shoemaker
- Start date
It's great preparation for the youngsters - the freshmen last season did not seem to get such opportunities as Staley is allowing them this season.
We've played 12 games thus far, and still have 16 SEC games plus the game with Connecticut left to play before the regular season concludes. There COULD be a lessening of roles for the younger players once conference play begins, but I doubt there will be substantial reductions, unless they suddenly become overwhelmed, which they haven't had that happen yet.
Last season, Raven Johnson had her season cut down to only 2 games due to injury: she averaged 4.2 minutes per game (mpg) in those two. Saniya Rivers was our most-used true freshman, averaging 13.0 mpg. Bree Hall averaged 9.3 mpg, and Sania Feagin averaged 4.3 mpg.
In contrast, veteran starters Destinee Henderson averaged 31.0 mpg, Aliyah Boston averaged 28.6 mpg, Zia Cooke averaged 27.1 mpg, Brea Beal averaged 24.1 mpg, and Victaria Saxton averaged 21.5 mpg.
Veteran reserves Laeticia Amihere put in 16.8 mpg, Kamilla Cardoso averaged 13.3 mpg, Lele Grissett averaged 12.4 mpg, Destiny Littleton averaged 9.0 mpg, and Eniya Russell averaged 7.7 mpg.
That's a LOT of players! We had 16 players on roster, including Super Senior Grissett. Six (6) of those player left the program prior to this season, and were replaced with 3 freshmen plus one transfer. Also Johnson is back to active status. So there were a few more minutes to go around for everyone.
Thus far THIS season, the leading player in minutes has been Brea Beal, with 23.5 mpg, followed by Boston's 23.4 mpg, Cooke's 23.2 mpg, Saxton's 16.6 mpg and Kierra Fletcher (14.9 mpg) who's started 10 of the 12 games at PG. Followed by Super Subs Amihere (17.7 mpg) and Cardoso (17.6 mpg),
The underclassmen are all experiencing an up-tick in minutes in games: surprisingly, the leader has been Super Frosh Chloe Kitts, averaging 19.8 mpg, albeit in only 2 games thus far. But Hall (16.0 mpg), Johnson (14.2 mpg), Cooper (14.0 mpg), and Watkins (13.2 mpg) are getting double-digit minutes in games thus far. Feagin is just under that, at 9.5 mpg: she warrants getting even more opportunities, as she's the top scorer of all the freshmen and sophomores, at 7.5 ppg., and is leading the team in FG %, at .622. She's also one of the team's top FT shooters, at 78% (18-23). In short, Feagin is a Point Producer.
So, we go from just ONE of the younger players in Rivers averaging dbl-digit minutes/gm in 21-22, to having 5 of the 6 averaging well over, and the 6th just under the mark. Again, that may change once SEC games start up, but last season there wasn't really any substantial shift in mpg for the players when that happened - just a slight increase/decrease of 1-2 mpg for each player. With all the experience the reserves have been getting this OOC season - and not just in logging minutes for the sake of it, but in having productive, impactful contributions in every game - it will surprise me to see a major shut-down of participation from the bench just because conference games begin. Most all other SEC teams are experiencing sort of "reboots" and rebuilds this season as well.....
We've played 12 games thus far, and still have 16 SEC games plus the game with Connecticut left to play before the regular season concludes. There COULD be a lessening of roles for the younger players once conference play begins, but I doubt there will be substantial reductions, unless they suddenly become overwhelmed, which they haven't had that happen yet.
Last season, Raven Johnson had her season cut down to only 2 games due to injury: she averaged 4.2 minutes per game (mpg) in those two. Saniya Rivers was our most-used true freshman, averaging 13.0 mpg. Bree Hall averaged 9.3 mpg, and Sania Feagin averaged 4.3 mpg.
In contrast, veteran starters Destinee Henderson averaged 31.0 mpg, Aliyah Boston averaged 28.6 mpg, Zia Cooke averaged 27.1 mpg, Brea Beal averaged 24.1 mpg, and Victaria Saxton averaged 21.5 mpg.
Veteran reserves Laeticia Amihere put in 16.8 mpg, Kamilla Cardoso averaged 13.3 mpg, Lele Grissett averaged 12.4 mpg, Destiny Littleton averaged 9.0 mpg, and Eniya Russell averaged 7.7 mpg.
That's a LOT of players! We had 16 players on roster, including Super Senior Grissett. Six (6) of those player left the program prior to this season, and were replaced with 3 freshmen plus one transfer. Also Johnson is back to active status. So there were a few more minutes to go around for everyone.
Thus far THIS season, the leading player in minutes has been Brea Beal, with 23.5 mpg, followed by Boston's 23.4 mpg, Cooke's 23.2 mpg, Saxton's 16.6 mpg and Kierra Fletcher (14.9 mpg) who's started 10 of the 12 games at PG. Followed by Super Subs Amihere (17.7 mpg) and Cardoso (17.6 mpg),
The underclassmen are all experiencing an up-tick in minutes in games: surprisingly, the leader has been Super Frosh Chloe Kitts, averaging 19.8 mpg, albeit in only 2 games thus far. But Hall (16.0 mpg), Johnson (14.2 mpg), Cooper (14.0 mpg), and Watkins (13.2 mpg) are getting double-digit minutes in games thus far. Feagin is just under that, at 9.5 mpg: she warrants getting even more opportunities, as she's the top scorer of all the freshmen and sophomores, at 7.5 ppg., and is leading the team in FG %, at .622. She's also one of the team's top FT shooters, at 78% (18-23). In short, Feagin is a Point Producer.
So, we go from just ONE of the younger players in Rivers averaging dbl-digit minutes/gm in 21-22, to having 5 of the 6 averaging well over, and the 6th just under the mark. Again, that may change once SEC games start up, but last season there wasn't really any substantial shift in mpg for the players when that happened - just a slight increase/decrease of 1-2 mpg for each player. With all the experience the reserves have been getting this OOC season - and not just in logging minutes for the sake of it, but in having productive, impactful contributions in every game - it will surprise me to see a major shut-down of participation from the bench just because conference games begin. Most all other SEC teams are experiencing sort of "reboots" and rebuilds this season as well.....
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Thanks, as always! I did a little bit deeper look at the conference last night. 9 teams besides us with at least 10 wins. The 9 have totaled ONE top 25 win, Ark over #24 K state (38net) and only TWO other top 50 wins, UF beat Miami 40 and Mizzou topped Ariz.St 48.
A lot of very soft scheduling and when quality opponents were played, losses. I believe the depth and strength of this conference is an illusion. LSU has talent but has not been tested. UT has talent, injuries, losses and head cases. Ark has very young and inconsistent talent. Everyone else is masquerading their deficits.
Bench gets a lot more minutes in conference than last year