South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch - #15 Iowa State

South Carolina looks to bounce back from its first regular season loss in nearly three years with a quick turnaround against #15 Iowa State. Here’s what to watch for and how to watch the Thanksgiving matinee.

1. Rebound
Losing is a new experience for many of the Gamecocks. MiLaysia Fulwiley, Tessa Johnson, Adhel Tac, Maddy McDaniel, and Joyce Edwards had never lost a college game until Sunday. Te-Hina Paopao, Sakima Walker, and Maryam Dauda had never lost a game at South Carolina.

“We were talking about that in the locker room,” Johnson said. “I haven’t lost since a high school game. It hurts but at the end of the day, it’s basketball. You’re going to lose so you have to learn from it.”

“We just told our team, ‘This is our second loss in two years.’ So, no, it doesn’t feel good, but yes, we have to figure things out a little bit,” Staley said on Sunday.

The Gamecocks don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves. They only have three days to regroup for Iowa State, another top-15 foe. Te-Hina Paopao said the quick turnaround is a good thing.

“We came in with the mindset that hey, it was an early loss, it’s still November, the world isn’t going to end. We’re still here, and we’re still blessed to play this game together,” Paopao said. “I love the schedule that (Staley) put (together) for us. It’s going to test us. It’s going to help us in the long run.”

2. Start faster
It’s South Carolina’s biggest concern – repeatedly digging themselves into early holes. Against UCLA, it was a 15-2 deficit that proved too much to overcome. 

Everyone knows it’s an issue. That doesn’t make it easier to correct.

Nearly a month into the season, South Carolina can’t make wholesale changes. So what can the Gamecocks do?

“Bring it to their attention,” Staley said. “They feel that we haven’t gotten off to some great starts. We’re not gonna change, we’re going to get better as far as starting better. When we get ball reversals we’re a much better team, so we brought that to their attention. When we don’t get ball reversals it’s a drastic shift in our efficiency. And we’ve got to open the floor up a little bit to have more room to operate.”

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3. Lineups
The slow starts, plus early-season struggles by Raven Johnson and Sania Feagin have fans clamoring for Staley to make a change to the starting lineup.

Staley has historically avoided changes to the starting lineup for reasons other than injury.  Is she considering it now?

“No. No. No. No, not at all.”

4. Another dominant post
South Carolina’s biggest concern going into the UCLA game was the Bruins’ dominant post, Lauren Betts. Staley was happy with how South Carolina defended Betts, an early national player of the year contender. She got a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds but was 10 points below her season average. 

South Carolina will face another dominant post presence on Thursday in Iowa State’s Audi Crooks. There aren’t many similarities between the two. At 6-7, Betts towers over opponents and impacts both ends of the court with her height. Crooks is only 6-3 and uses her wide frame and footwork to create shooting space. 

Crooks averaged 9.7 points and 7.8 rebounds last season, capped by a scintillating 40-point game against Maryland in the NCAA Tournament. This year she is scoring even higher, averaging 21.7 points and 7.5 rebounds in just 25 minutes.

“Crooks is incredible,” Staley said. “She does things and does things extremely well in her way. If we give her two feet in the paint for 80% of her touches, long, long, long day. If we can get her to give us two moves on 80% of her moves I think it favors us.”

The Cyclones are much more than just Crooks, but slowing down Iowa State begins with slowing down Crooks. 

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5. Scouting the Cyclones
Iowa State began the season in the top ten, but an upset loss at Northern Iowa knocked the Cyclones down to #15. 

Iowa State’s defense failed the Cyclones in the loss. UNI shot just under 50% for the game, including 64% in the decisive fourth quarter. Maya McDermott was unstoppable, scoring 37 points on 14-21 shooting.

Iowa State followed up the loss with a narrow win over Drake. Again, defense was a problem. Katie Dinnebier scored 39 points, going 8-10 from three, and the Bulldogs shot 44% to nearly overcome 33 points from Crooks.

McDermott and Dinnebier are both point guards. It could be a big game for one or more of South Carolina’s lead guards. But the focus is on getting the ball inside first.

“Post presence. We’ve been talking about it for quite some time now and we’ve got to implement it more in our practices,” Paopao said.

“We need to get our bigs involved, so we’re going to look to get them the ball in positions where they can score,” Staley said. 

The Ws
Who: #4 South Carolina (5-1) vs #15 Iowa State (5-1)
When: 1:30 pm, Thursday, November 28
Where: Suncoast Credit Union Arena, Fort Myers, FL
Watch: FOX

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