South Carolina women's basketball: How can the Gamecocks fix the slow starts?

#5 UCLA routed #1 South Carolina 77-62 on Sunday, handing the Gamecocks their first regular season loss in 1,059 days. A lot went right for UCLA, and a lot went wrong for South Carolina, but the game was nearly decided in the first eight minutes when the Bruins raced out to a 15-2 lead.

South Carolina has started slowly all season, but this time it was too much to overcome. What can South Carolina do to get better at the beginning of games?

To figure that out, first, you need to figure out why the Gamecocks are struggling so much early in games. 

Obviously, South Carolina is not playing well on offense, but why? And why is it most pronounced at the beginning of games, especially when four of the five players were starters last season when the Gamecocks regularly dominated from the opening tip. 

Let’s start with the position that changed, going from Kamilla Cardoso to Sania Feagin. Cardoso was an instant mismatch on both ends of the court and she was at the top of everyone’s scouting report. But South Carolina won when she was away from the team to play for the Brazilian national team, so it’s not as simple as “Kamilla’s gone.”

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

Feagin had a slow start to the season, but she has played better lately. She isn’t an imposing player, and she defends more with grit than imposing skill. Feagin is a versatile scorer, something that hasn’t shown up much this season. Maybe South Carolina needs to try to establish her early.

Staley alluded to this on Wednesday.

“The ball’s been sticking too much to individual players and it’s stagnant,” she said. “We need to get our bigs involved. So we’re gonna look to get them the ball in positions that they can score, whether that’s two feet in the paint or whether that’s hitting the mid-range shots. And if you’ve got three-point range, you can take good, fluid, rhythm, threes.”

Turning to the rest of the starting lineup, Te-Hina Paopao has probably been South Carolina’s best player this season and leads the Gamecocks in scoring (14.2 points) and assists (3.3 assists). She missed a lot of shots early against Clemson, but she’s not the problem. 

Chloe Kitts also has been one of the Gamecocks’ best players. She made a promise to herself before the season that she would play hard every game. She’s lived up to that, but her physical limitations were on display against UCLA. She simply isn’t tall or strong enough to go against Lauren Betts, but that is a one-game issue, not a season-long problem.

Bree Hall took a few games to get going, but she is playing like herself again. Hall is seldom the first or second option on offense, so how much blame falls on her? She’s shooting 41.2% from three, and floor-spacing is the biggest part of her game.

Raven Johnson has struggled to start the season. She is now shooting a dismal 20% this season and although she finally hit a three against UCLA, she is still just 1-15 for the season. She’s dishing out just 2.3 assists this season and has been inconsistent on defense. 

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

Positions one and five seem to be the weak spots. But with Johnson, do you really want to bench a fourth-year player who started all of last season, is still playing hard (her 5.8 rebounds are second on the team), and has proven she can win a championship?

Feagin is different. She has never been a regular starter before and has played well as a backup. In fact, her numbers were better last season. Maybe you return Feagin to her reserve role, or maybe you start running plays for Feagin to start the game. 

It’s not just who you take out of the starting lineup, but who you put in. Who are the other candidates? On Wednesday, Staley was adamant there wouldn’t be any changes when I asked about it.

“No. No. No. No, not at all,” She said, laughing.

But what if she did consider making a move?

In the post, Ashlyn Watkins is the obvious alternative to Feagin. If she hadn’t gotten suspended, Watkins would probably have been the starter all along. It seems likely that this switch will happen eventually, regardless of how Feagin is performing.

Maddy McDaniel is the only true point guard on the bench. She has played really well, but are you really going to turn the keys over to a freshman?

You could bench Johnson and slide Paopao to the point, opening up a spot for Tessa Johnson or MiLaysia Fulwiley. Those are both attractive options. Johnson has been fantastic this season. The counterargument is that you are moving her out of the role in which she has excelled.

Fulwiley would provide instant energy and explosive scoring. The counterargument is that Fulwiley can be inconsistent.

And that’s the problem. There is no obvious solution. But that’s also why Dawn Staley gets paid the big bucks.

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