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

South Carolina begins conference play on Thursday night at Missouri. Find out what to watch for and how to watch.

1. Focus!
I’ve written repeatedly about the Gamecocks’ inconsistent focus this season, so I’m not going to rehash everything. But I’m curious if the start of conference play will help alleviate some of the concerns.

It is understandable, though not acceptable, that South Carolina might have trouble finding motivation for guarantee games in December. Now that every game has significance, and winning the SEC is always one of the team goals, will South Carolina be more consistently focused and motivated?

Missouri isn’t very good, exactly the type of conference game that tests your focus. There’s a good chance we’ll be able to tell where South Carolina is mentally pretty quickly.

2. Second unit, second quarter, second to none
This comes straight from page one of the game notes. 

South Carolina gets 51.3% of its scoring from the bench, which scores an NCAA-high 41.8 points. South Carolina’s best quarter is the second quarter when it outscores opponents by 9.1 points.

Those two things are certainly related – the second quarter is when most teams turn to their bench and the Gamecocks have more talent on the bench than most teams.

Arguably, the Gamecocks also have more talent on the bench than in their starting lineup. That’s why when I picked the three most important players going into conference play, all three come off the bench.

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3. Remember when?
This game proves that the SEC schedule-makers either have a sense of humor or they like to make easy content for us writers who have to fill up space every day. 

South Carolina has an SEC-record 47-game conference winning streak. The last loss was on December 30, 2021. The game was at Mizzou.

Bree Hall is the only current Gamecock who played in that game. She played five minutes and didn’t register a stat, missing her only shot attempt. Sania Feagin was on the roster but did not play, and Raven Johnson was out for the season with a knee injury.

No current Missouri players played in that game.

4. Availability report
Beginning this week, SEC teams must release an availability report for all conference games. Dawn Staley did not hold media availability this week due to the holiday, so the availability report is all we have to go on. 

Per the first availability report released on Wednesday night, Maddy McDaniel and Sakima Walker are listed as Out. Mizzou’s Londyn Oliphant is also listed as Out.

McDaniel did not play against Wofford after suffering a concussion. Walker has not played since the Iowa State game and hasn’t been available since the TCU game with an ankle injury. 

Oliphant has also been out with a concussion.

5. Scouting the Tigers
Not much was expected from Missouri this season. The Tigers have probably been better than most expected so far, attaining a NET ranking of 58, but they’ve done it against a pretty weak schedule.

Like it usually does, Mizzou has an efficient offense. Sophomore Grace Slaughter averages 14.7 points and is hitting an astronomical 57.4% from three. As a team, Mizzou shoots 39.1% from three.

When the Tigers upset the Gamecocks three years ago, they did it by hitting threes, getting to the rim when the defense closed out too aggressively, and unexpectedly holding their own in the paint. The last part is the biggest challenge on Thursday.

The Ws
Who: #2 South Carolina (12-1) at Missouri (11-4)
When: 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 2
Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, MO
Watch: SEC Network

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