South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch - Georgia
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1. Point guard
South Carolina’s group of points guards has done a decent job of avoiding turnovers this season. The Gamecocks average just 13.5 turnovers per game, and all four players (Kiera Fletcher, Raven Johnson, Laeticia Amihere, and Zia Cooke) have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.
Limiting turnovers will be key against Georgia, who forces 20.5 turnovers per game. The Lady Bulldogs like to press and turn defense into offense. South Carolina’s objective is not just to avoid turnovers, but to break the press and get easy buckets.
“They’re just relentless. They’re scrappy and they apply pressure all game long,” Dawn Staley said. She went on to say South Carolina needs to avoid dead-ball situations and made baskets that allow Georgia to set up its press. “And if they do, we’ve got to attack it. I don’t think we’re going to be afraid of it. I don’t want us throwing the ball around but I also don’t want us playing slow and walking the ball up the floor.”
2. Bree Hall’s status
Bree Hall missed the Texas A&M game due to a lower right leg injury. She was on the bench during the game with a walking boot on her foot. Hall is getting healthier and could play Monday night.
“Bree got in and she moved pretty well,” Staley said following practice Sunday.
In Hall’s absence Thursday, Chloe Kitts was the big guard off the bench. She had two points and three rebounds against Texas A&M, but that was in the fourth quarter. Kitts didn’t look comfortable in Hall’s role in the first half.
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3. No Highlighters
While classes are out, South Carolina has been practicing without its practice players, the “Highlighters.” Their absence means more practice time for players. Freshmen Ashlyn Watkins and Talaysia Cooper have taken advantage, with a couple of really good practices.
“We would not have seen that if it weren’t for the practice players not being here,” Staley said. “It’s a gift and a curse that they get all the reps. Good or bad, they get all the reps. They’ve been good the last two days.”
The next step in the process is for Watkins and Cooper, plus players like Kitts and Sania Feagin, to turn good practices into good games, and do t consistently. They all have had their moments, but there have also been times when they looked inexperienced.
For Staley, it’s a balancing act between trying to win now and developing for the future. It’s also a balancing act to keep players engaged when they might not be playing as much as they want. That includes teaching players how to practice.
“Being dominant and greatness is a process, it doesn’t happen like that,” Staley said. “We do a really good job of painting a picture of how we see them, now and in the future.”
4. Wrapping up Texas A&M
Feagin is one of those players still learning to be great. She had a solid game against Texas A&M, with 11 points, six rebounds, and two blocks.
She’s had bigger games in terms of statistics, but it was one of the first times Feagin was called on to contribute in the first quarter. She answer the call and talked after the game about the work she’s put in to earn playing time.
Cooke was also in the postgame press conference, and after Feagin answered a question about some of the things she has worked on to earn more playing time, Cooke jumped in and said, “She’s been getting in the gym too.”
It seems safe to assume the coaches had been after Feagin to spend more time in the gym, but that’s not the point (in fact I left it out of my story Thursday because I wasn’t entirely clear what Cooke meant).
It was a good insight into what makes South Carolina a consistently elite program: a veteran player taking ownership of the development of a younger player, and a young player willing to be tutored.
In no way am I suggesting this only happens at South Carolina, but when you have elite players committed to the long-term success of the program, you have a program that is going to be very good for a very long time.
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5. Scouting the Lady Bulldogs
Georgia likes to create turnovers and easy baskets, but the Lady Bulldogs struggle to score in the halfcourt. Staley believes that if the Gamecocks can play fast they will be able to pull away, joking that she hopes “it’s not a first to 40-type of game.”
“There are some scoring droughts that we need to take advantage of,” she said. “We’ve got to score some points.”
Georgia looks dramatically different than it did in recent years. Just like when Joni Taylor left and players followed her to Texas A&M, three players followed Katie Abrahamson-Henderson (who thankfully goes by “Coach ABE”) to Georgia from UCF.
Diamond Battles (14.1) and Brittney Smith (11.3), Georgia’s top two scorers, are both UCF transfers. Smith is also tied for the team lead in rebounding at 6.5 per game.
Battles was the AAC player and defensive player of the year last season and one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal. She opted for familiarity and filled Coach ABE to Georgia.
Expect South Carolina to give Battles different looks defensively, including Fletcher’s strength and Amihere’s length.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (13-0, 1-0) at Georgia (11-4, 0-1)
When: 7:00 pm, Monday, January 2
Where: Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, GA
Watch: SEC Network
