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

South Carolina faces Texas Friday night in the national semifinal. Find out how to watch and what to watch for.

1. The fourth time’s the charm
South Carolina and Texas will join a select group of teams who have met four times in a single season (and, if you count the coin flip, a fifth time). 

“I feel like we do know them inside/out as much as they probably know us inside/out,” Rori Harmon said. “There’s a saying that we’ve been living by since the tournament started, but once talent meets talent and all that, it’s basically it doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s about preparation and who’s going to step up on the biggest stage that we are in right now and who is going to be the tougher team.”

This is also the 21st time Dawn Staley and Vic Schaefer have met as coaches. Staley holds a 16-4 record against Schaefer, including 7-0 in the postseason (five SEC tournament finals, the 2021 Elite Eight, and the 2017 national championship). 

“We’re both defensive-minded, so it’s probably we’ve had a bigger offensive spurt throughout those games that we’ve played that were at a higher stake, and I do think it’s going to take that,” Staley said. “I mean, we’re not going to rely on our success against them to say, hey, we beat them. I’m looking at the loss, you know, from this year and how we can prevent that.”

2. Play like you’re in the Iodine State
South Carolina beat Texas in the games in Columbia and Greenville. More than location, the common theme was that South Carolina brought its “A” game both times. That wasn’t the case in the loss in Austin. It was probably a “C+” or “B” game. 

It’s concerning that South Carolina’s “A” game hasn’t shown up in the NCAA Tournament. The players and coaches have acknowledged they aren’t playing their best, but that isn’t enough to fix the problem.

“We know we all can do better,” Chloe Kitts said. “We were winning playing not our best basketball. So now we need to keep winning and play our best basketball.”

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3. Rebound
Rebounding is South Carolina’s biggest weakness, and it happens to be one of the Longhorns’ strengths.

When the Gamecocks are focused, they are capable of rebounding well. They outrebounded the Longhorns by two in both wins but were outrebounded by seven in the loss.

For proof that the Gamecock can rebound when they want to, South Carolina also outrebounded Oklahoma, the top rebounding team in the country, both times they played this season. 

“The key is boxing out, rebounding, and understanding what it takes to win,” Sania Feagin said.

4. Guarding Booker
South Carolina has tormented Booker in the first three games. Booker had seven points on 3-19 shooting in the first game. She got 20 points in the win in Austin but still shot just 7-22. She had just 10 points on 4-13 shooting in Greenville. Booker finished the season averaging 12.3 points on 14-54 shooting (25.9%) against South Carolina.

Obviously, Texas has more than just Booker, the SEC Player of the Year. But if South Carolina can limit Booker to another ineffective game, it goes a long way toward winning. That responsibility falls to Bree Hall, with help from Tessa Johnson.

“She’s definitely underrated as a defender. I think our game sometimes looks at stats. She’s not one that’s going to steal the ball. She’s one that’s going to get your top scorer shooting at an inefficient clip and that’s her claim to fame,” Staley said of Hall. “She’s really locked in when it comes to that side because she knows that she’s got to do her part. And her part is a big part that we rely on to get wins. And that’s not scoring a whole lot of points. It’s actually preventing our opponents from scoring a lot of points. She’s in my top five in my 25 years of coaching.”

“She’s a great defender,” Booker said of Hall. “Kind of shocked she wasn’t on the all-conference defensive team or anything like that — long, lean, athletic. She definitely makes you think on the court as an offensive player. She’s a great player. I totally have all my respect in her. Definitely makes me think. Like I say, a great player.”

5. Scouting the Longhorns
Booker grabs the headlines, but the Longhorns are deep and talented. Point guard Rori Harmon scored 14 points with three assists in the SEC tournament matchup. 

Posts Taylor Jones and Kyla Oldacre are matchup problems for South Carolina. Jones also scored 14 points in the tournament and had 11 points in Austin. Oldacre had 11 points and 16 rebounds in Columbia and 13 points in the Texas win.

Texas shoots under 30% from three, and the Longhorns don’t even try to shoot from distance, averaging just over 10 attempts per game. 

In the SEC tournament final, South Carolina ignored Texas shooters and kept all five defensive players around the paint. Expect a similar strategy in Tampa unless Texas can start knocking down some threes. 

“It’s going to come down to broken plays,” Joyce Edwards said. “Extra possessions from turnovers or offensive rebounds, all the stuff that you can’t necessarily scout, all the stuff that you have to put a little bit of extra effort into in the game.”

The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina vs #1 Texas
When: 7:00 ET, Friday, April 4
Where: Amelie Arena, Tampa, FL
Watch: ESPN
Sendoff: 4:45 ET, Westin Tampa Waterside, 725 S Harbour Island Blvd

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