South Carolina women's basketball: Three things we learned this weekend

South Carolina wrapped up the first half of the SEC season – and its five-game gauntlet against ranked foes – on Monday with another win. Here’s what we learned from an incredibly challenging weekend.

1. South Carolina can win without its “A” game
In each of my past two “3-2-1” stories, I wondered if South Carolina could keep playing the way it had been. Since the Christmas break, and especially since Ashlyn Watkins’ season-ending injury, it seemed like South Carolina was playing close to perfect – other than some missed three-pointers.

What would happen when the Gamecocks played less than perfect? Without Watkins, the margin for error is much smaller. I wondered if things would fall apart, especially against the run of ranked opponents.

We have our answer.

South Carolina was far from perfect against LSU. The Gamecocks were outrebounded by 12 and couldn’t hit from three or make a layup. Chloe Kitts and MiLaysia Fulwiley had terrible shooting games. Te-Hina Paopao, who had been South Carolina’s most consistent player most of the season, had more turnovers than baskets. Joyce Edwards, an 80% free throw shooter, missed half of her attempts.

“Offensively (it) wasn’t our best game, but we made adjustments to meet our players where they were,” Dawn Staley said. “We had a playbook for the LSU game. If it’s ten plays, we only ran two of them. That was just four out, five out, just play basketball because their focus was more on getting stops. I told them I’ve never seen them not have that for a long stretch of a game. But they really concentrate on other areas, which they found a way to win.”

2. South Carolina’s defense is really, really, really good. Like really good.
After the game on Monday, a group of us South Carolina media boys and girls were waiting in the bowels of Tennessee’s arena waiting to talk to Joyce Edwards. We were discussing two things: how ridiculous it is that Tennessee plays on Pat Summitt Court at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, and how bad South Carolina’s offense looked at times on Monday.

Both of those things are true. But there are two other truths that mitigate them. One: Tennessee makes everyone’s offense look bad for long stretches, not just South Carolina’s. Two: It doesn’t matter if the other team can’t score, and South Carolina’s defense continues to be shockingly good.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Auburn WBB]

During the five games against ranked opponents, those opponents were ranked (going into the game) fourth, fourth, 15th (but top ten at home), third, and first in the NCAA in scoring. South Carolina held all but one to season lows and held the other, Alabam, to a season low at home. 

Only two teams have reached 70 points against South Carolina, UCLA (77) and Duke (70), and Duke only got to 70 because the game was so lopsided that Staley experimented with her bench in the fourth quarter.

“Our staple is defense,” Staley said. “We don’t know whether or not we’re going to be able to score a lot of points in this league. This league is based on defense, and you’re able to defend it gives you a chance to win every single time.”

The Gamecocks won it all with a great defense and mediocre offense in 2022. They are almost as good on defense this season, but much better on offense, so they can definitely win it again.

3. Joyce Edwards is her
Edwards got off to a little bit of a slow start to her career as she had to find her footing against college defenses. Now that she knows what she’s doing, she has been remarkable. Every game seems to be better than the one before, and the most tantalizing part is that she is still making freshman mistakes.

When Tennessee sprinted out to a 14-5 lead, South Carolina went to Edwards for back-to-back layups to get back on track. When the offense sputtered again in the fourth, Staley called a timeout to set up Edwards, and she delivered even though everyone knew the ball was going to her. I lost count of how many times she scored with less than five seconds on the shot clock. 

On Friday, Edwards didn’t play particularly well and still ended up with a team-high 14 points. As I have said before, that’s what great players do – they produce even on off days.

I asked Edwards if she’s starting to feel fatigued or hitting the freshman wall. She laughed.

“In high school I played a lot of sports besides basketball, so I’ve kind of got it,” she said, in case you forgot she was also all-state in volleyball and soccer.

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