South Carolina women's basketball: The 3-2-1 - Clutch Players, Burning Questions, and a favorite play from the Arkansas and Vanderbilt games

South Carolina bounced back with two blowout wins last week. Who were the clutch players, the burning questions, and a favorite play?

Three Clutch Players
MiLaysia Fulwiley
Vs Arkansas: 20 minutes, 15 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds
Vs Vanderbilt: 19 minutes, 24 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals

Fulwiley is back, as I wrote yesterday. She was amazing in both games, so much so that she dominated the SEC Network’s coverage of men’s basketball on Saturday night.

Joyce Edwards
Vs Arkansas: 18 minutes, 18 points, 8 rebounds
Vs Vanderbilt: 29 minutes, 17 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks

Edwards won her head-to-head battle against fellow freshman Mikayla Blakes on Sunday, but that wasn’t the most impressive thing. That was when Vanderbilt scored four points to start the second half. Dawn Staley called on Edwards to make an early appearance, and Edwards scored 11 points during the decisive 16-1 run. Edwards is the Gamecocks’ rock.

Maryam Dauda
Vs Arkansas: 14 minutes, 9 points, 8 rebounds
Vs Vanderbilt: 12 minutes, 3 points, 7 rebounds, steal

Dauda had a great game against Arkansas, but that was an overmatched opponent, and she did a lot of damage after the game was over. But Staley liked the confidence she saw from Dauda enough to play her early against Vanderbilt. Dauda had two points and four rebounds in three minutes in the first quarter. If Dauda can keep that up, it is a huge boost to South Carolina’s rotation.

Win tickets to Senior Day, South Carolina-Kentucky women’s basketball game

Two Burning Questions
1. How worried should the Gamecocks be this week?
Moderately, I think. Ole Miss has given South Carolina trouble in Oxford before (taking the Gamecocks to overtime in 2023), but the Rebels struggle tremendously on offense. They’ve come close to a few upsets this season, but they only pulled it off against Kentucky because they lack the scoring punch to finish games. 

When Kentucky plays well, its offense is incredibly efficient. But that hasn’t been happening a lot lately. The Wildcats have scored 57, 49, 84 (against Georgia), 73, and 58 points. The book on Kentucky – and Georgia Amoore – seems to be out.

Instead of worried, maybe the Gamecocks should be optimistic. They have two potential Quad 1 wins they can add to their resume.

2. What about the tournament? I heard Texas clinched the SEC and that South Carolina is a two-seed in Spokane.
No. Recently, there has been an avalanche of misinformation and plain bad reporting.

South Carolina and Texas are tied for first place in the SEC standings. Most online sources list Texas ahead of South Carolina because the Longhorns have one less non-conference loss, but that doesn’t actually mean Texas is ahead. They split their regular-season games, so if they stay tied, both would be named SEC Regular Season champions, and a coin flip would determine the top seed in the SEC Tournament.

As for being a two-seed in Spokane, that’s just clickbait. South Carolina is tied for the most Quad 1 wins in the country and is second in the NET rankings. In nearly every metric, South Carolina has one of the four best tournament resumes. The committee could ding the Gamecocks and make them a two-seed or send them to Spokane, but not both. And Notre Dame’s loss to NC State makes it more likely that neither happens.

We’ll see if the committee thinks the same thing on Thursday when they announce the second top 16 reveal.

Win tickets to Senior Day, South Carolina-Kentucky women’s basketball game

One Favorite Play
It’s my story, so I can change the rules if I want to. Here’s Fulwiley against Arkansas:

Can't get it out of our heads … @milaysiaf 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FCTrCaiXYd

— South Carolina Women's Basketball (@GamecockWBB) February 22, 2025

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