Will any Gamecocks join A’ja Wilson on the All-SEC team?

If South Carolina’s easy win against Kentucky this past Sunday confirmed anything, it’s that as long as A’ja Wilson is on the floor, she’s about as much of a lock as you possibly can be to win her third consecutive SEC Player of the Year.

In just 21 minutes against the Wildcats, Wilson returned from an ankle injury to put up 26 points, eight rebounds and four blocks — the kind of routinely impressive performance that has made her a magnet for just about every trophy and award the conference has to offer.

But with January entering its final week and USC prepping for the stretch run of the regular season, it’s worth asking — can any Gamecocks join Wilson on the All-SEC honor roll?

Right now, there are two plausible options to do so: sophomore guard Tyasha Harris and redshirt junior forward Alexis Jennings. That’s not to rule anyone out, but based on their current production and expected value for the rest of the season, Jennings and Harris seem to be the clear No. 2 and 3 options. So let’s evaluate their chances.

Tyasha Harris

You may not have noticed it with Wilson’s assault on South Carolina’s record book (she’s on pace to break USC’s career and season scoring record and already has the blocks and free throw records), but Harris is quietly putting together a breakout campaign that could net her a spot in South Carolina history.

With 131 assists on the season for an average of 6.9 per game, Harris is on pace for the most helpers ever in a single season for USC, and the second best per game average in program history.

Compared to her peers, Harris stands head and shoulders above the rest of the SEC when it comes to assists — she’s averaging a full two more per game than the next closest player, Evina Westbrook from Tennessee.

The good news for South Carolina fans is that the team captain has been getting better as the year progresses. Over the past nine games, she’s averaging 14.1 points and 8.56 assists and has had five double-doubles after collecting just one through the season’s first 10 games. She also ranks third in the conference in steals per game, with 2.74, and second in assist to turnover ratio.

The bad news for Harris’s All-SEC hopes is that she doesn’t score as much as some of her compatriots. Her main competitors at guard include Texas A&M’s Chennedy Carter, Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians, Missouri’s Sophie Cunningham, Tennessee’s Jaime Nared and Auburn’s Janiah McKay, all of whom rank in the top 10 of the conference with 16.5 or more points per game.

Harris, meanwhile, is at 11.6 points per contest. Granted, points aren’t everything, and it’s not that she can’t score — her 28-point effort against Tennessee is proof of that — it’s that with Wilson on the court, she doesn’t need to do as much, which naturally limits her statistics. Still, that’s a big scoring gap.

But in terms of pure point guards, there aren’t many like Harris in the SEC.

Prediction: Second team All-SEC (coaches, AP)

Alexis Jennings

The transfer from Kentucky is not Alaina Coates, so it might be tempting to discount her chances, but any player who ranks in the top 10 nationally in field goal percentage deserves some consideration.

The A’ja Wilson effect that you see in Harris’s stats is just as obvious with Jennings, who consistently scores in double figures but doesn’t have the flashy numbers you’d expect from a player Dawn Staley says is “well on her way to becoming an All-American.”

Advanced metrics are kind to Jennings, however. She ranks 21^st in the conference in efficiency rating and second in win score, according to National Statistical and the site’s Player Context Rating, which measures efficiency, power, speed, accuracy, defense and opponent quality, puts her as the 11^th best player in the SEC.

Still, competitors like Tennessee’s Mercedes Russell, Mississippi State’s Tierra McGowan, Georgia’s Caliya Robinson and Texas A&M’s Khaalia Hillsman and Anriel Howard are ahead of Jennings in more conventional statistical categories, and that probably keeps her off at least the AP’s five-person teams for this year, though a potential candidate for the coaches’ eight-player second team.

Prediction: Not this year

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Will any Gamecocks join A’ja Wilson on the All-SEC team?."