#1 South Carolina-South Dakota State: How to watch and Five things to watch for

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The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (3-0) vs South Dakota State (2-1)
When: 7:00 pm, Monday, November 20
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network+
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1. Tales of us
South Carolina opened the season against two top-15 opponents and is now in the relatively soft part of the schedule. That means Dawn Staley is getting strict. Winning isn’t enough, she wants to see consistent, mistake-free play for 40 minutes.

“Where I am with this team now I don’t really look at our opponents,” Staley said after beating Clemson. “I just kind of look and see what we’re doing. I don’t really look at the score, I look at how we’re doing. I want us to play really good basketball at all times. I don’t want lulls in the game in which we play bad basketball.”

2. We’re talking about practice
Measuring the Gamecocks against themselves doesn’t mean they aren’t game-planning for opponents. It means they are being graded on how they execute the game plan.

So far, the grades are not good.

“What stands out is we don’t practice well. We do not practice like we play in games, which is really weird,” Staley said. “We’re getting better. I think individual by individual they are taking it a little bit more seriously. We’re young. That’s why. They don’t really know what it is to prep.

“We really get into the depth of our opponent. You’ve got to know your stuff, know your opponent. We switch a whole lot so you can’t just know, the bigs do this. You’ve got to know what the guards do,” she continued. “If you’re not used to it, it can catch you off guard, and it has for our youngsters.”

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3. Tessa’s prognosis
Freshman Tessa Johnson sprained her ankle during shootaround last Thursday and missed the Clemson game. She is out again for tonight’s game against South Dakota State, and Staley didn’t sound overly optimistic Johnson would be ready for Friday’s game against Mississippi Valley State, saying only, “I hope.”

Johnson’s absence leaves South Carolina with just ten active players, and particularly thin in the backcourt. Johnson was Bree Hall’s primary backup, and Sahnya Jah has had to slide from forward to wing to pick up those minutes.

Jah had mixed results playing on the perimeter against Clemson. She made her first three-point attempt but then missed the next three. Jah finished with eight points and four rebounds but is clearly more comfortable closer to the basket.

“That’s hard because we’re trying to get her to perfect one position,” Staley said. “Then when Tessa goes down we need her to practice there, we need her to play in some games there. She’s embracing it, but we need to be patient with her.”

South Carolina also needs MiLaysia Fulwiley to stay out of foul trouble. Fulwiley picked up two early fouls against Maryland and missed most of the first half, and then fouled out in just 16 minutes against Clemson. Johnson picked up the slack for Fulwiley against Maryland, but that safety net is gone.

4. Thanksgiving plans
South Carolina has a busy holiday week with two games sandwiched around Thanksgiving. After playing Monday night, the team will be off Tuesday. They will practice Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the Black Friday matinee against Mississippi Valley State.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams will share a Thanksgiving dinner at the McGuire Room in Colonial Life Arena on Thursday.

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5. Scouting the Jackrabbits
The Gamecocks and Jackrabbits met last season in Sioux Falls, with the Gamecocks taking a 62-44 win. The game was closer than the final score – the Gamecocks led by just six in the fourth quarter before an 11-0 run put the game out of reach.

South Dakota State’s swarming, collapsing defense frustrated South Carolina. South Carolina shot just 13% from three and failed to punish South Dakota State for doubling off of shooters.

“We haven’t really had anyone just pack it in like I think South Dakota State is capable of doing,” Staley said. “We watched a little bit of film from last year and they really packed it in. I think psychologically our players hopefully will be prepared for it.”

Last season South Dakota State swept the Summit League regular season and tournament championships and beat Southern Cal in the NCAA Tournament before falling in a tough loss to eventual Final Four participant Virginia Tech. 

They lost Summit League Player of the Year Myah Selland to graduation, but the Jackrabbits have been one of the most consistently strong mid-major programs and should be good again this season.

South Dakota State is sixth in the nation in three-point shooting and fifth in blocks. The defense is still swarming, and the offense still relies on movement, smart passing, and knocking down open shots.

“They are a team that’s pretty disciplined,” Staley said. “They are probably going to pack it in on us and make us shoot from the outside, probably cover up our bigs and try to crowd their space. They go in transition and they can shoot the ball.”

South Carolina is 20th in three-point shooting and leads the nation in blocks.

Sophomore forward Brooklyn Meyer leads the nation with 4.3 blocks per game and averages a double-double. At only 6-2, she will be undersized against South Carolina. Last season Kamilla Cardoso came off the bench to grab 15 rebounds, her career-high at the time. At 6-7, Cardoso is also averaging a double-double this season and has major support from Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins on the front line.

This is the return game for last season’s neutral site game.

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