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

#4 South Carolina goes for the Fort Myers sweep against Purdue on Saturday. Find out how to watch and what to watch for.

1. Defense
South Carolina’s defense was outstanding against Iowa State on Thursday. The Gamecocks held the Cyclones to the fewest points by any power conference team this season and the fewest points by a top-15 team in over a decade.

I broke down all the specifics HERE, and it’s pretty impressive.

2. Offense
All season, Dawn Staley has said the defense is ahead of the offense, and nothing has changed. South Carolina only shot 45% and had just 11 assists on 29 baskets. There was also an ugly four-minute, 0-9 shooting stretch that led to an 11-0 Iowa State run that briefly gave the Cyclones a glimmer of hope.

“That is our nemesis is to be able to lock in on both sides of the ball and not have any lapses,” Staley said. “We took a couple of ill-advised shots that jump-started their offense and they got easy buckets.”

South Carolina can win a lot of games with that kind of defense, maybe even another national championship. But Staley hopes the same focus will start showing up on offense.

“If we can put together forty minutes of what we did defensively offensively in the same game,” she said. “I think we’ll be feeling really good about ourselves.”

[New! GamecocksW newsletter! Don’t rely on search engines and social media for your South Carolina women’s basketball information.]

3. Excellent Edwards
Joyce Edwards quietly had the best game of her young career against Iowa State. She registered her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, both career-highs. She also had three steals and played strong defense.

Going into the season, most of us expected Edwards to do three things: rebound, score around the rim, and play defense. It took a few more games than expected, but Edwards seems to be finding her footing.

“This is the Joyce that we envisioned having,” Staley said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit longer than we think it’s going to take because she’s so smart and she’s able to compete at the highest level. I hope she gains a lot of confidence from the way she did it. She rebounded the basketball, she was flying around, her defense was pretty darn good. She put together a complete game.”

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Duke WBB game]

4. How to watch
Normally this time of year we’re trying to find a FloHoops login to try to watch these games. Well, Flo Hoops is now FloSports and it doesn’t matter either way because Saturday’s hame is on the Women’s Sports Network (WSN). 

WSN is a free streaming channel, which already makes it more fan-friendly. To watch it you will need to find it through a free streaming service. For most of these, you can either watch through the service’s website or download the app onto your streaming device to watch on your TV.

WSN is on XUMO (channel 737), LG Channels (channel 468), Vizio Watchfree +,  fubo, freevee, tubi, Roku, and Flex.

Basically, if its a service with a gibberish name, you should be able to find it. We’re all in this together so you should probably look for it before 11 am Saturday.

5. Scouting the Boilermakers
With all due respect to Purdue, this is an opponent South Carolina should take care of easily. Purdue was picked to finish 16th in the 18-team Big Ten, and nothing has happened to change that prediction.

While the Gamecocks come into Saturday’s game riding high, the Boilermakers stumble in off a 54-49 loss to Middle Tennessee State. 

Purdue has shot poorly from three this season. It is hitting just 28.2% on the year, which is 241st in the nation. Overall they are shooting just 43%. 

The Boilermakers don’t have great size inside, a problem that is compounded by opponents’ ability to pack the paint. Forwards Reagan Bass and Lana McCarthy are effective inside, so South Carolina needs to bring the same defensive intensity it had on Thanksgiving.

The Ws
Who: #5 South Carolina (6-1) vs Purdue (4-2)
When: 11:00 am EST, Saturday, November 30
Where: Suncoast Credit Union Arena, Fort Myers, FL
Watch: Women’s Sports Network

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