South Carolina women's basketball: Three things we learned from the loss to UCLA
South Carolina had its 43-game winning streak broken, falling 77-62 to UCLA on Sunday. What did we learn from the first loss in over 600 days?
1. The offense is broken
There were frequent possessions on Sunday when I would watch an offensive possession and have no clue what the Gamecocks were trying to accomplish.
Are they trying to be a pick-and-roll team with Te-Hina Paopao and Tessa Johnson? Do they want to run through the post with Chloe Kitts, Sania Feagin, and Ashlyn Watkins? Do they want to go small and play fast, four-out basketball?
South Carolina has the pieces to play any of those styles, but right now the Gamecocks are playing none of them
“Our shot selection is something that we are dealing with on a daily basis,” Dawn Staley said. “Once we get that under control…”
I don’t think it’s irreparably broken. Most of this group was part of the best offense in program history last season. But they need to get it together.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Duke WBB game]
2. South Carolina has 2019 depth, not 2022 depth
Remember the 2022 championship run, when the rotation changed game-to-game based on matchups that Staley liked? It meant that Destanni Henderson barely played against Louisville then scored a career-high two days later.
Now, remember 2019? Staley juggled 13 players who might play 30 minutes one night and five minutes the next as she tried to figure out who was hot each game. Players had trouble finding a rhythm because they were always a couple of missed shots or mistakes away from being replaced.
That’s the 2024 Gamecocks right now.
There are too many good players and not enough minutes, especially with a lot of overlap in playing styles. Staley is trying to play as many as possible right now, but she probably needs to tighten the rotation and clarify roles a little more.
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“I thought we had some really good contributions from people that don’t play a whole lot, that we could probably give a little bit more minutes to,” Staley said.
3. Losing isn’t the worst thing
For one thing, South Carolina had to lose eventually. Get it out of the way now.
Secondly, South Carolina had not been playing up to its potential so far this season. Winning masked some of the issues, but the Repeat Tour hasn’t created the same intensity as the Revenge Tour.
I talked to Tessa Johnson after the game. She was pretty dejected, as was the rest of the locker room. She had never lost a college game before.
“We were talking about that in the locker room,” Johnson said. “I haven’t lost since a high school game. It hurts but at the end of the day, it’s basketball. You’re going to lose so you have to learn from it.”
Look at it this way, if you are an opponent, do you want a refocused, angry Gamecock team on your schedule?
“Sometimes, we get a little unfocused,” Staley said. “But taking the loss will help us focus on anybody that we play.”
