South Carolina women's basketball: FIve Things to Watch - Memphis
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1. Point guard
Kierra Fletcher had the best game of her Gamecock career against UCLA, when she notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Her confidence and comfort level started to pick up against Stanford and have been improving in the games since then.
It was particularly evident against UCLA that Fletcher has gotten more comfortable taking what the defense gives her – in the Bruins’ case it was mid-range jumpers – instead of forcing the issue and ending up with bad shots.
Before the UCLA game, Fletcher said that being able to practice had made a huge difference. She practically predicted her breakout game.
On the other hand, Raven Johnson is still struggling to find her rhythm. She seems to alternate good and bad games, and she has struggled to hit shots. Everything seems to come in bunches, whether it is assists, turnovers, or steals.
It’s important to remember that it has barely been a year since Johnson tore her ACL. She isn’t anywhere close to being back at full strength, and the bulky brace she wears can slow her down.
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2. Wrapping up UCLA
It will be interesting to see where UCLA is ranked next week. Despite suffering their first loss of the season, I don’t see how anyone could not be impressed by the Bruins. Charisma Osborne looked every bit like a top-five WNBA draft pick and did it against one of the best defensive teams in the country. I am not a voter, but if I were I would move UCLA up despite the loss.
And even though freshman Kiki Rice made a critical mistake in drawing a technical foul (and after rewatching the game, the initial foul call looked much more questionable than I originally thought, so I can better understand the frustration), Rice made one big shot after another. She was the national high school play of the year last season, and she looks more than capable of carrying it over to the college game.
During the postgame press conference, Osborne had to choke back tears. “I don’t even know why I’m crying,” she said. With all due respect, I can tell you why. UCLA had just played a hell of a game, and Osborne had given it everything she had and then some, scoring a game-high 24 points and being virtually unstoppable.
No moral victories and all that jazz, but UCLA made an extremely strong case for being in that national second tier of teams behind South Carolina and Stanford. And the Cardinal no longer look like clear locks to win the Pac-12.
3. Enough bricks to build a house
I don’t know which makes South Carolina’s three-point shooting look worse, the raw numbers or the percentage. South Carolina has made just 33-116 from three, a brutal 28.4%. Either way, ouch.
The game-by-game splits aren’t encouraging either. South Carolina shot 6-23 (26.1%), 8-28 (28.6%), 7-12 (58.3%), 5-17 (29.4%), 3-11 (27.3%), 3-11 again (27.3%), and 1-14 (7.1%) against UCLA.
If there is a silver lining, South Carolina has kept its number of attempts reasonable. Shooting 27% on 11 attempts is undoubtedly preferable to shooting 27% on 25 shots. Aside from a few rushed shots at the end of the shot clock, South Carolina has mostly only taken wide-open shots.
If you are a glass-half-full person, you’re happy with the shot selection. If you are glass-half-empty, then it isn’t reassuring to know the Gamecocks can’t even hit open looks.
Individually, Zia Cooke is shooting 38.7%, which is a good clip. That’s in line with her sophomore season and a big improvement over last season when she only hit 28.7% Bree Hall has made 4-9 (44.4%), which is a small sample size but she looks comfortable shooting.
Brea Beal has hit 33.3%, which is a career-high, but she’s also gone 0-6 over the last two games. Is it a slump or a regression to the mean?
The big problem has been the point guard position. Fletcher and Johnson are a combined 2-23. Fletcher is a much better shooter from a couple of feet inside the arc, as she showed against UCLA. Johnson has had a quick trigger at times, but she was a 40% shooter in high school so hopefully as she gets more comfortable her shooting returns to form.
Laeticia Amihere, who frequently plays point guard, is 1-6. She was a career-35% shooter entering the season and hit 5-11 last season. So again, she should improve (we won’t mention her 0-10 sophomore season).
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4. Give Back Game
Saturday’s game is South Carolina’s 2nd Annual Give Back Game. The Gamecocks are partnering with the USC Veterans Alumni Council to collect canned goods. Veterans and ROTC members will be outside the arena collecting items. They will be donated to Harvest Hope Food Bank and distributed to veterans and families in need.
5. Scouting the Tigers
Long live the Metro Conference!
South Carolina leads the all-time series with Memphis 16-5. Most of those games came when the two programs were part of the old Metro Conference. They have played twice since South Carolina left for the SEC, but not since 1993.
Now in the AAC, Memphis has a couple of decent bigs in Jada Wright and Lanetta Williams, but in general, the Tigers are guard-oriented like most mid-major teams.
Senior Jamirah Shutes leads Memphis in scoring at 15.6 points per game. Madison Griggs, another senior, averages 13.4 points and is shooting an impressive 43.5% from three. Griggs was hitting nearly 50% from three before Indiana held her to 1-6 shooting in Memphis’ last game. Keeping track of Griggs will be key for the South Carolina defense.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (7-0) vs Memphis (4-3)
When: 3:00 pm, Saturday, December 3
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network+
