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

South Carolina Women’s Basketball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC • Polls • Scholarships

1. Start strong

Not to be confused with “Start fast.”

Whether it’s because the Lady Vols are the “old guard” defending their turf against the “nouveau riche” Gamecocks (yes I mixed metaphors), or something else, this series has been closer than it probably should have been over the past six seasons or so.

There was the phantom foul in 2017, A’ja Wilson missing both regular season losses in 2018, and the bizarre second-half collapse in 2021. Put it together and South Carolina is just 5-4 in its last nine games against Tennessee.

South Carolina has talked all season about “punching first,” imposing its will from the beginning of the game. Can South Carolina do that, or does Tennessee punch first?

The Lady Vols can be extremely tough to slow down once they get in a groove, but they have struggled tremendously to execute under pressure. The gamecocks don’t need to take a big early lead, they just need to apply pressure and wear down the Lady Vols.

[Subscribe to Gamecock Central until Aug. 31 for only $29.99!]

2. Boston vs ?

South Carolina beat Tennessee 67-53 in Columbia last season, but Tamari Key made sure it didn’t come easily. Despite playing just 25 minutes, Key had 10 points, 10 blocks, and seven rebounds. 

Key has been sidelined this season after blood clots were found in her lungs. Her absence leaves a huge hole in the middle, especially when it comes to how Tennessee will defend Aliyah Boston. 

After the success Ole Miss had against South Carolina playing zone to limit Boston, don’t be surprised if Tennessee tries its hand at zone as well

“We do expect it,” Dawn Staley said. “They do prefer to play man, but the zone has been effective against us, especially Ole Miss. We did some things at Ole Miss that we’ll clean up and hopefully, we’ll have a better showing against the zone.”

UCLA played a lot of zone against South Carolina early in the season. In that game Staley countered by playing Laeticia Amihere at point guard. At 6-4, Amihere could see over the zone to get the ball inside to Boston and Kamilla Cardoso, who combined for 34 points and 19 rebounds. 

3. About that AP Poll

South Carolina was once again ranked #1 in the AP Poll this week. The Gamecocks extended their streak atop the poll to 35 weeks, the third-longest streak ever. They trail UConn (51 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36 weeks).

However, for the first time this season, the Gamecocks weren’t unanimous. Indiana, who is 26-1, snagged one first-place vote.* Time to cue up the “nobody believed in us rhetoric, right?

“I don’t care,” Staley said. “I really don’t care as long as we keep winning. We’re good with that. The voters are going to have their way of slicing and dicing who they feel they should give their vote to. It’s their vote.”

(*Voter Mitchell Northam said he wanted to reward Indiana for beating Ohio State and Michigan last week and having five top-ten wins. Although you don’t have to agree, it’s a valid logic, unlike last season when that guy from Waco kept refusing to vote South Carolina #1 out of some strange spite.)

[Become a “FAM” Member, support USC women’s basketball]

4. SEC Tournament watch

South Carolina can clinch a share of the SEC regular-season title and the top seed in the SEC tournament with a win Thursday night. 

South Carolina has a one-game lead on LSU, plus the head-to-head tiebreaker. The SEC does not break ties for the championship, so if South Carolina and LSU finish tied, both would claim the regular-season title, but South Carolina would be the top seed. 

If South Carolina wins the next two games, or LSU loses a game, South Carolina would claim both outright. But if the Gamecocks are thinking about tournament seeding, they haven’t let on.

“They haven’t talked about a championship or anything like that,” Staley said. “I’m sure they have it in mind because it’s a goal of theirs.”

Tennessee is currently third in the standings and can’t drop any lower. If the Lady Vols win out and LSU loses out, Tennessee could jump up to the two seed.

5. Scouting the Lady Vols

Tennessee is led by seniors Rickea Jackson and Jordan Horston. Jackson is averaging 18.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, and has scored at least 20 points in four consecutive games. 

“She scores the ball, she rebounds really well, she’s going to try to create mismatches on the floor,” Staley said. “One person can’t stop her. With our depth, we’re going to be able to show her different looks and hopefully, we can wear her down.”

Horston is Tennessee’s swiss army knife, averaging 15.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game. Horston shares ball-handling duties with Jordan Walker, who chips in 3.2 assists per game.

Despite the two Jordans, this season Tennessee has been plagued  by untimely turnovers and poor offensive execution in the fourth quarter. However, Staley cautioned that she thinks Tennessee has turned the corner late in the season.

“They’re playing much better than they played last week and they played a month ago,” Staley said. “They are really concentrating on getting their players the ball where they are effective.”

The Ws

Who: #1 South Carolina (27-0, 14-0) at Tennessee (20-9, 12-2)

When: 7:00 ET, Thursday, February 23

Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN

Watch: ESPN

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