To 3 or not to 3? That is the question

Call it fallout from last year, when dependence on the 3-pointer and ignoring what got them there led to a Sweet 16 loss.

Even when they’re going in, watching fifth-ranked South Carolina rain 3-pointers and not targeting bigs A’ja Wilson and Alaina Coates is unsettling.

The Gamecocks whipped Auburn on Thursday on the strength of 14 3-pointers. It came after a win over Minnesota where they sank 16. Safe to say it’s not a plan to rely that much on the long-range shots going into each game … but when they’re going in, why stop shooting them?

“I’m comfortable when they go in,” USC coach Dawn Staley said. “Obviously, we got off to a really good start. I think they were in a groove.”

Kaela Davis clearly was. She loaded up from 3 on her first three shots and swished all of them. That opened the gates to a 29-6 first-quarter lead where the Gamecocks hit seven from beyond the arc.

Then Bianca Cuevas-Moore found her range and hit a few, and USC was a 3-point team for that game. Wilson got her double-double, Coates didn’t, but the Gamecocks comfortably won.

It’s great to see USC can beat opponents in a variety of ways. But the maxim, “Live and die by the 3-pointer” looms. About to embark on the SEC road again, USC doesn’t want to get trapped in shooting 3-pointers and not having their bread-and-butter game plan consumed.

“They were fluid, they were within our offense,” Staley said of the Auburn game. “When they’re taken that way, and they’re expected, it gives us a chance when they miss to get some offensive rebounding.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 6:40 PM with the headline "To 3 or not to 3? That is the question."