South Carolina women's basketball: Three things we learned from the last three games

South Carolina wrapped up its three-game “home” stand. Before the Gamecocks turn their focus entirely to UCLA, let’s look at what we learned over the last three games. 

1. Winning is hard

Winning 43 games and 85 of 86 (and 98 of the last 100), many of them blowouts, makes it easy to forget that winning is hard. South Carolina made things look easy last season. This season, it hasn’t been easy. But South Carolina still won by 32, 51, and 32. 

Over the same time period, LSU struggled with Murray State and Tulane, Ohio State barely beat Belmont, TCU upset NC State, South Dakota State gave Duke a scare, and Northern Iowa beat Iowa State. 

The point is, even though most of us were probably disappointed by how the Gamecocks have played so far, maybe we’re being too critical.

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2. Tessa Johnson might be the Gamecocks’ lynchpin

Johnson missed the games against Coppin State and East Carolina. She was back against Clemson, and even though the Gamecocks couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean, the difference was striking. 

Johnson can play multiple positions, which frees up other players to focus on what they do best. Once an “okay” defender, Johnson has improved to be a strong defender. And we know how good she is shooting the ball. 

Johnson is capable of big games like she had against Michigan or last year in the national championship. She only had eight points against Clemson, but it seemed like she was on the floor for every big play.

Johnson might not be South Carolina’s best player, but she makes the most good happen.

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3. South Carolina has a point guard “situation”

Raven Johnson’s struggles are well-documented. She is averaging 3.4 points on 7-35 shooting and is 0-13 from three. Johnson is also averaging just 2.6 assists.

Dawn Staley defended Johnson on Wednesday, saying as long as she takes the right shots she doesn’t care if they don’t go down. 

Compounding the issue is South Carolina’s guard depth with Te-hina Paopao, MiLaysia Fulwiley, and Tessa Johnson. And now Maddy McDaniel. 

McDaniel has looked fantastic in limited minutes, averaging 4.0 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.3 rebounds. When Dawn Staley was asked about McDaniel on Wednesday, she couldn’t stop smiling. 

“I love great point guard play,” she said. “Oh, I love great point guard play. Maddy is as solid as solid can be. She is running our basketball team. She is picking and choosing opportunities to score. She’s facilitating, she’s defending, she’s gaining more and more confidence.

“So if she continues to play like this, we’re going to continue to find time for her. I’m overjoyed with her play because she’s solid. She hasn’t had a whole lot of practice time; she just started practicing probably two weeks ago on a day-to-day basis. So we really haven’t seen her in the things that she can do. I know what she did while we recruited her, and it’s even better. It’s even better.”

I’ve covered Staley for 16 years, and I’ve covered her with players like A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, and Tiffany Mitchell. I have never seen her that effusive about a player.

The reason I called this a situation instead of a problem is because South Carolina isn’t asking Johnson to do something she has never done before. She just needs to break out of the slump and be the same player she was last season. You assume that will happen and hope it happens sooner than later. But McDaniel’s early success adds a layer of intrigue. 

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