South Carolina women's basketball: The 3-2-1 - Clutch Players, Burning Questions, and a favorite play from the disappointing weekend
Look back at the clutch players, burning questions, and my favorite play from a rollercoaster weekend for the Gamecocks.
Three Clutch Players
Joyce Edwards
Vs Florida: 19 minutes, 28 points, 5 rebounds, assist, steal
Vs UConn: 28 minutes, 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks
Edwards scored a career-high against Florida and led South Carolina in scoring and tied for the lead in rebounding against UConn. There is little debate that she is South Carolina’s best player heading into the final two weeks of the season.
Te-Hina Paopao
Vs Florida: 20 minutes, 14 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists
Vs UConn: 29 minutes, 10 points, 2 assists, rebound
Paopao set the tone early against Florida and had one of her best games as a Gamecock. She didn’t shoot well against UConn, but at least she was engaged in the first half.
Champ Staley
“My emotional support dog,” Dawn Staley said as she and Champ walked into the postgame interview room after the UConn loss. When I left over an hour later, associate head dog mom Lisa Boyer was walking Champ behind Colonial Life Arena. I’d bet there were some long, unpleasant meetings, and everyone could use a pup for support.
Win tickets to the South Carolina-Arkansas women’s basketball game
Two Burning Questions
1. What the hell happened?
All of the signs heading into the game were positive. The team responded to the loss at Texas precisely the way you want, with good practices and a demolition of overmatched Florida. The crowd was there early and loud. Even when UConn took an early lead, South Carolina was getting open shots, and you figured the tide would turn.
Then it all fell apart. It didn’t help that Feagin got hit in the face two minutes into the game, and then MiLaysia Fulwiley picked up two quick fouls, putting the rotation all out of whack, but that was no excuse for just plain not showing up.
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I’m not sure we’ll find out what happened. They are going to circle the wagons now and keep everything internal. But we’ll be able to tell from the results whether they fixed it.
2. Can the Gamecocks get back on track?
Can they? Absolutely. Will they? TBD. I’m a little more bullish than most. The UConn game was so drastically out of character that I don’t think we should read too much into it.
However, the fact that the team could lay that big of a dud in such a high-profile game definitely concerns me. This is a program that, for years, has played its best in the biggest games and had an unmatched competitive drive. Now, we aren’t sure they will show up.
One Favorite Play
There weren’t many highlights against UConn, but this block by MiLaysia Fulwiley was unbelievable. Sarah Strong was able to get by Edwards and appeared to have a clear lane to the basket until Fulwiley came from the help side to swat 6-2 Strong’s layup.
