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

South Carolina faces Indiana on Sunday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. Find out how to watch and what to watch for.

1. Rebound
Indiana plays a four-guard lineup, so it is understandable that the Hoosiers don’t rebound particularly well. By its lofty standards, South Carolina doesn’t rebound as well as it has in previous seasons, but the Gamecocks are solid on the glass.

When South Carolina lost this season, it got beat on the boards by an average of over 11 rebounds. Last season, against a much better rebounding team, Indiana managed to only get outrebounded by two. They need a similar outcome to pull off the upset this season.

“I think they never go away from their transition offense, offensive rebounding,” said Sydney Parrish, Indiana’s leading rebounder. “Without a 6’7″ kid in there with Kamilla (Cardoso) and Ashlyn Watkins being injured at the beginning of this year, that definitely helps us. We are not as tall as they are. I think that we have the strength of maybe trying to play a little bit smarter than them and knowing when to pick and choose, when to double, when to help off certain people, when to push the ball, and try to play fast and when to try and tempo it down a little bit.”

2. Young Guns
South Carolina got big production from its younger players against Tennessee Tech. Freshmen Joyce Edwards, Maddy McDaniel, and Adhel Tac each had productive debuts, led by 22 points from Edwards. 

What also stood out was how sophomores MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson approached their second tournament. 

Both had strong tournaments last season as freshmen, but do you remember that Johnson went scoreless in her debut against Presbyterian? Or that Fulwiley did not hit double figures in the last four games? 

There was plenty of room for improvement, and South Carolina got it on Friday. 

Johnson had 11 points, five rebounds, and a career-high six assists. Fulwiley had 15 points, five assists, a career-high four blocks, and three steals. She also shot 6-8 from the floor.

The layups or three-pointers might be the plays that blow up on social media, but those are box scores that win championships.

“I’ve just got to do whatever I need to do to help my team win,” Fulwiley said. “I think that’s what I’ve been going out there and doing. I’m just glad that it’s all coming together at the right time.”

Fulwiley has said a few times that she is committed to being more than just a scorer this tournament, and she’s leading the Gamecocks with 3.8 assists per game in the postseason.

Keep up with all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days—lock in this special offer today!

3. Duck, Duck, Chicken, Hoosier
Te-Hina Paopao and Sydney Parrish began their careers together at Oregon, where they were part of the nation’s top-ranked signing class. They will be on the same court when one of them ends her career. 

Paopao and Parrish faced off last season in the Sweet 16 in Albany, where it seemed like every team had a former Duck. They talked extensively about their friendship last season.

Both opted to come back for another season, and they find themselves together again. They talked when the bracket was released but not a lot this weekend as they focus on their own teams. 

Parrish did appear to shout at Paopao while the latter was watching Indiana play on Friday.

“She spotted me and we started laughing and giggling,” Paopao said. 

The reunion will be bittersweet on Sunday. 

“It’s kind of funny just because we started college together and now we’re going to end up ending each other’s career in college,” Paopao said. “It’s going to be a fun day (Sunday) and it’s just unfortunate that it had to be both of us at the same time.”

4. Second round blues
There’s almost zero chance of South Carolina repeating Friday’s offensive performance, when they scored 108 points, shot 67.2%, made 12-19 from three, and had 25 assists.

Indiana is a better defensive team than Tennessee Tech, and even if that wasn’t the case, those numbers are so absurd they have to come down.

But South Carolina has also had some second round clunkers in its tournament history. The Gamecocks shot just 42% in a win over South Florida in 2023, beat Miami 49-33 in 2022 in one of the all-time tournament rock fights (both teams under 30% shooting), and beat Oregon State 59-42 in 2021. Even going back to the 2017 championship team, the closest call that tournament was a 71-68 win over Arizona State in the second round.

Another tight round of 32 game wouldn’t be a reason to panic. But it would be nice to see a repeat of last year. That game had a super-focused South Carolina blitzed North Carolina for an 88-41 laugher.

5. Scouting the Hoosiers
Indiana has had a rollercoaster season with some ugly losses and some impressive upsets. That continued into the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Utah made the first run, but Indiana pulled away in the second half and then held off the rally for a 76-68 win. 

Indiana is a good three-point shooting team, but that didn’t show up Friday. The Hoosiers shot just 5-17, well below their season average of 36.5%. It didn’t matter because they shot 58% overall and 13-15 from the line. 

Indiana’s four-guard lineup caused issues for both teams in the Sweet 16 game last season. South Carolina used its size advantage to build a 23-point lead, but then Indiana used its quickness and shooting to come back.

“The same type of actions caused us some issues with people playing small ball and running our bigs off flair screens, something that’s very difficult for any post player to guard,” Dawn Staley said.

The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (31-3, 15-1) vs #9 Indiana (20-12, 10-8)
When: 3:00 pm ET, Sunday March 23
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
Watch: ABC
Sendoff: 12:45 pm at the Marriott Columbia Hotel (1200 Hampton St.)

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