South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch - Duke

South Carolina plays Duke on Sunday, with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Find out how to watch and what to watch for.

1. You again? Again
Just like South Carolina can’t seem to avoid Sweet 16 opponent Maryland, South Carolina and Elite Eight opponent Duke are familiar foes.

The Gamecocks and Blue Devils have played 10 times, with South Carolina holding an 8-2 advantage. They have played eight times in the Dawn Staley era, and Staley has only lost once. 

The 51-50 win in Durham in 2014 launched South Carolina into the basketball elite and propelled the Gamecocks to their first Final Four. 

They met earlier this season as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge. South Carolina won by a misleading score of 81-70 in early December.

This is the first time the two teams have met in the postseason, making it easily the most important game of the series to date.

2. Recapping the first game
Chloe Kitts scored her then-career-high 21 points and had 11 rebounds and South Carolina led by 20 for most of the game. South Carolina was up by 20 in the fourth quarter, a comfortable enough margin that Staley felt comfortable experimenting with her lineup, which allowed Duke to close the gap.

South Carolina shot 57.4% and 5-10 from three. Duke shot 50% in the fourth quarter but only 44.8% for the game. Delaney Thomas and Taina Mair each had 14 points to lead Duke. 

“I know for sure what we talked about was that was not Duke defense, that was not us, that was not what we allow,” Oluchi Okananwa said. “We did not key in on the details like we usually do. So that, too, is another big emphasis for us tomorrow.”

Stay on top of all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days—lock in this special offer today!

3. The blueprint?
Maryland coach Brenda Frese raised some eyebrows on Friday when she seemed to claim that Maryland had cracked the code to beating South Carolina.

“We showed that we could win this game,” Frese said. “And I think we gave a pretty good blueprint on how to beat South Carolina, to be quite honest, for the teams moving forward.”

That blueprint was simple: sagging defense to clog the paint, aggressive double-temas, and hope South Carolina misses its threes. Dawn Staley was asked about the comment on Saturday, and her eyebrows were among those that were raised.

“The blueprint? People played us like that ever since we had Aliyah Boston,” she said. “It’s nothing new. We lead the country in points in the paint; clog the paint. They did a good job executing their game plan, and we did a poor job at shot selection. So we will be better. We just gotta take better shots.”

4.  Can anyone score?
On Friday, the four teams in Birmingham Regional 2 combined to shoot 88/240. That means Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland combined shot 36.7%. Duke and North Carolina’s 47-38 game shattered the previous record for fewest combined points in a Sweet 16 by eight points.

That’s not good.

I asked one of the best shooters in Birmingham if there was something about Legacy Arena that contributed to the poor shooting.

“I think it was just the rhythm of things. The topic I’m not supposed to talk about (the officiating) kind of took us out of the rhythm of shooting and get into the flow of things. I felt like the rhythm wasn’t there because there was so much stoppage in the game. We couldn’t really find a flow and rhythm. Today we know we need to lock in,” she said. “I would say it’s a little hard just because we don’t have a lot of time here to shoot the ball and just be able to practice on the rims.”

5. Scouting the Blue Devils
This was supposedly the season that Duke’s offense finally caught up to its defense. That may have been overstated. 

Duke still plays elite defense, but the offense often looks lost, especially against better teams. Duke only averages 73.1 points on 44.4% shooting and hits 34% from three.

Like South Carolina, Duke gets significant production from its bench, and both teams have a freshman forward who comes off the bench to lead the team in scoring. Joyce Edwards averages 13.0 points per game. She has had some issues handling double-teams in the tournament. 

Toby Fournier averages 13.1 points for Duke. She missed the Blue Devils’ second round game due to illness. Kara Lawson said Fournier was at full strength for their Sweet 16 game, but she only played 17 minutes and scored three points. 

Ashlon Jackson averages 12.4 points, but she hits 37.6% from three and can get hot and score in bunches. Oluchi Okananwa, the ACC tournament MVP, averages 10.2 points.

But with Duke, it’s all about defense. The Blue Devils give up just 56.6 poitns per game and only allow 38.6% shooting.

“Their defense is pretty stingy. They have disrupted. They have created some offense from their defense, and they do a really good job of hitting timely shots,” Staley said. “They’re going to play for 40 minutes, Thay are going to disrupt.”

The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina vs #2 Duke
When: 1:00 ET, Sunday, March 30
Where: Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Alabama
Watch: ABC
Sendoff: 9:45 CT – Westin Hotel, 2221 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd N

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