South Carolina women's basketball: Maddy McDaniel speaks softly, but has a big impact
Maddy McDaniel sat at her locker, almost in a daze. McDaniel had played all of 14 seconds on Sunday, but that didn’t matter. She was going to the Final Four.
McDaniel is the quiet one. She speaks when spoken to, but she’s content to sit off to the side while the Gamecocks’ daycare is up to its shenanigans. It’s almost like she is trying to live up to her nickname “Mouse.”
“I’m quiet, I’m small,” she says.
But McDaniel has a loud game.
Not much was expected from McDaniel this season. As a freshman in a loaded, experienced backcourt, most people expected her to sit and learn this season. But McDaniel was too good to keep on the bench.
McDaniel’s playing time has fluctuated all season, but she has produced when she is on the court.
She played 18 minutes in the first-round blowout of Tennessee Tech, scoring two points and dishing out three assists.
“I feel great,” she said after the game. “I feel great. It was great to get out there, play with my teammates, get my feet wet. All that was great. It was fun, too, especially putting a 60-piece out, that was fun.”
McDaniel threw a pretty lob to fellow freshman Adhel Tac. That play had everyone – fans, coaches, players – dreaming up three more seasons of those lobs.
“It was great cause like, it’s gonna be great (down) the line, me and Adhel finding that chemistry,” McDaniel said. “It was good to go out there and get that little one thing for people to see, that little sneak peak.”
As the tournament went on, and the games got tighter, McDaniel played less. It was one minute against Indiana, three against Maryland, and then, if we are rounding, zero against Duke. But Dawn Staley has trusted her enough to put McDaniel in at crucial moments.
Against Indiana, Staley put McDaniel in for the end of the third quarter, with the instructions to go score. McDaniel got a screen from Chloe Kitts, blew by the defender, and made a layup.
“She said this is your moment, use your speed,” McDaniel said. “That’s what she wanted. She said go downhill and do what you do.”
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She did her job. That’s why Staley had confidence in McDaniel to put the freshman in cold in a pivotal moment.
“Maddy’s always learning, she’s always ready,” Staley said. “I thought that because Chloe was getting off, they were sticking more closely to her in the third quarter. I thought it would create an opportunity for Maddy to get to the basket and get a layup and she went and executed just that.”
Against Duke, it was 14 seconds, again at the end of the third, to get Raven Johnson some extra rest and protect her from picking up a fourth foul. Again, she did her job. The 10-0 run that changed the game began while McDaniel was on the floor.
Earlier in the tournament, McDaniel had said it doesn’t bother her to have to stay ready when there is no guarantee she will play.
“Yeah, I definitely feel prepared,” she said. “We had some good days in practice, good days. And then we had some good hours after practice too, even before, so I feel I feel real prepared.”
It helps when the team is winning.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” McDaniel said. “I couldn’t have asked to be in a better position than to go to the Final Four in my freshman year.”
