South Carolina women's basketball: Balance has made a more efficient offense

South Carolina Women’s Basketball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC • Polls • Scholarships

Sometimes you plan to write about something and then find out the facts don’t back up the perception. I wanted to write about how South Carolina had cut down on turnovers this season despite not having an experienced point guard. One problem:

2021-22: 14.4 turnovers per game

2022-23: 13.8 turnovers per game

A drop of 0.6 turnovers per game isn’t exactly significant. Why, then, does it seem like South Carolina is so much better with turnovers? Part of it could be this:

2021-22: 13.9 assists per game

2022-23: 16.1 assists per game

Now we might be onto something. A positive assist-to-turnover ratio looks a whole lot better than a negative one. It is also surprising because South Carolina lost Destanni Henderson, a two-year starter at point guard who led the SEC in assists as a junior and was picked in the second round of the WNBA Draft. It’s taken four players rotating at point guard to replace her.

Henderson led the Gamecocks with 3.9 assists per game last season. Aliyah Boston was second on the team with just over two assists per game.

This season is quite another story. Starting point guard Kierra Fletcher is averaging just 1.9 assists per game. Backup Raven Johnson leads South Carolina with 3.2 assists per game. They get a lot of help, including Brea Beal’s 2.6 assists per game and Zia Cooke’s 2.1.

Now we’re really onto something: depth and balance.

South Carolina had depth last season. Eleven players averaged at least nine minutes per game. But it didn’t have balance. Boston, Henderson, and Cooke scored in double figures, but nobody else averaged over 6.3 points per game, and the Gamecocks were almost entirely dependent on the big three for offense.

Subscribe to Gamecock Central until Aug. 31 for only $29.99

South Carolina’s bench looks very different this season, following six departures and four additions, but the Gamecocks still have depth. Thirteen players average at least ten minutes per game. And this year they have balance. Six players average at least six points per game, and total scoring is split nearly evenly between starters and the bench. Six different reserves have hit double-figure scoring at least twice this season. Last season just three players had multiple double-figure games off the bench.

I could go on. And I will.

Seven different players have led the Gamecocks in scoring this season. Six players have led the team in rebounding. And eight have led the Gamecocks in assists. The Gamecocks have used several different crunch-time lineups, and Dawn Staley hasn’t hesitated to make wholesale substitutions when she isn’t happy. Balance. 

And then it dawns on me (dawns – get it?)…

Become a “FAM” Member and support South Carolina women’s basketball players

Cardoso and Sania Feagin are much more productive this season. Ashlyn Watkins has played like a vet. The Breas, Beal and Breezy because we’ve got a Brea, have developed into reliable offensive players, not just defensive specialists. Talaysia Cooper and Chloe Kitts have been surprisingly effective. Amihere is steady and consistent. Cooke is having a bounce-back season. 

Boston is the only one whose numbers are down. She’s getting double-, triple-, sometimes quadruple-teamed. But that happened last season too. Her numbers aren’t down because of the defensive attention. Her numbers are down because she has help.

How many times has Boston pulled in one of those double-, triple-, sometimes quadruple-teams and kicked the ball out. One or two passes later someone is hitting a wide-open layup or three-pointer. 

Now we’re full-circle.

The Gamecocks are turning the ball over less, even if only slightly, because they are sharing the ball more, and they are sharing the ball more because they have more options, and more options mean Boston’s numbers are down, and Boston’s numbers are down because they are sharing the ball, and because they are sharing the ball they are registering assists instead of turnovers.

It’s all so obvious.

Oh, and the Gamecocks are playing historically good defense. But that’s for another day.

Discuss South Carolina women’s basketball on The Insiders Forum!