South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch - Auburn

South Carolina Women’s Basketball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC • Polls • Scholarships

The South Carolina women’s basketball team hosts Auburn Thursday night in the penultimate home game this season.

1. The “Other” game

So much attention has been focused on Sunday’s game against Tennessee – the SEC crown is likely at stake, GameDay is in town, broadcast television, potential sellout, senior day, breakfast with Beamer, color coordination … have I forgotten anything? – that it is easy to forget about Thursday’s game against Auburn. 

“I know everybody is thinking about Sunday,” Dawn Staley said. “Not us. It’s not a trap game.”

2. LA and Cardoso

Laeticia Amihere and Kamilla Cardoso missed the last two games while competing in the World Cup Qualifying Tournaments for Canada and Brazil, respectively. Amihere started two games and Canada qualified for the World Cup (although it was a formality). Brazil did not qualify, but Cardoso was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 11.3 points and 8.7 rebounds with a pair of double-doubles.

• Visit The Insiders Forum for live game updates

Both players arrived back in Columbia Monday. Amihere was coming from Osaka, Japan, and Cardoso from Belgrade, Serbia. They’ve gotten a pair of practices under their belt, but Staley said they are still recovering from jet lag and may not play against Auburn.

“We’ll see how they wake up (Wednesday),” Staley said. “We don’t want to put them in a position to hurt themselves by playing if they still are jet-lagged.”

South Carolina probably doesn’t need Amihere and Cardoso to beat Auburn, but it would be nice to have them back. The Gamecocks were outrebounded by Georgia, just the second time in two years they have been outrebounded, and Aliyah Boston was exhausted by the end of the game. Both outcomes could be traced back to the absence of the Gamecocks’ top two front-court reserves. 

• South Carolina Women’s Basketball: Dawn Staley and dictating the narrative

3. SEC Standings

It’s not too early to start breaking down the SEC standings. However, nothing of consequence will be decided Thursday night. South Carolina is still a game up on Tennessee (at Alabama) and two games plus a tiebreaker ahead of LSU (at Mississippi State) and Florida (Arkansas). Six teams remain alive in the regular season title race, and six could still finish in last place (only Mississippi State and Georgia, each 6-6, are locked out).

This picture should get clearer after Thursday’s games.

4. This!

This quote from Staley has nothing to do with Auburn (she was actually talking about how exciting it is to have GameDay in town Sunday), but it so perfectly describes the complaints of coaches, players, and fans.

“Women’s basketball decision-makers don’t always pivot with what’s happening on the ground in our sport.”

• Visit The Insiders Forum for live game updates

5. Scouting the Tigers

Auburn might be able to lay claim to being the best last-place team in the country, for whatever that’s worth. When your lone win was over then-first place Tennessee, that gets people’s attention. 

Auburn is led by Aicha Coulibaly, who averages 18,1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Couilibaly has 26 points against Tennessee. Guard Honesty Scott-Grayson, a Baylor transfer, is averaging 12.9 point and 6.0 rebounds, and is coming off a 21-point, 14-rebound game against Florida. 

It shouldn’t be surprising that Auburn is a tough out. Despite a first-year coaching staff, the Tigers have some of the most respected names in the SEC on the sideline. Head coach Johnnie Harris was Gary Blair’s lead recruiter at Texas A&M. She then followed another Blair assistant, Vic Schaefer, to Mississippi State, where she was associate head coach and was again in charge of recruiting and helped develop Teaira McCown. She was considered for Mississippi State’s head coaching position when Schaefer left for Texas, but didn’t get the job and spent a year at Texas before being hired by Auburn.  

Harris hired some familiar names to fill out her staff. Damitria Buchanan played for Harris at Texas A&M, and Ketara Chapel played for her at Mississippi State. But the big get was hiring associate head coach Bob Starkey, who ironically was Schaefer’s replacement on Blair’s staff. Starkey is regarded as one of the best defensive coaches in college basketball, and Auburn has been able to keep games close with its defense.

“They play hard for 40 minutes. I think they’re very similar to Florida, “ Staley said. “The games have been close, they work hard, they’ve got players in really good positions to do what they do best, and they don’t take their foot off the gas.”

The Ws

• Who: #1 South Carolina (23-1, 11-1) vs Auburn (9-14, 1-11)
• When: 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 17
• Where: Colonial Life Arena
• Watch: SEC Network