‘Certainly there’s a lot of love’ as Dawn Staley welcomes former team Temple
Who: No. 25 South Carolina (6-4) vs. Temple (3-6)
When: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 FM in Columbia
Series history: South Carolina and Temple have faced off three times, with USC taking all three contests. The Owls did push the Gamecocks to a 68-65 game the last time they played in Columbia in 2001, before Colonial Life Arena opened.
Last meeting: USC traveled to Philadelphia last year for Staley’s homecoming, her first time facing the program she led for six seasons. Carolina won easily, 87-60, to give Staley her 232nd win with the Gamecocks, a program record.
STORYLINES
Always added emotions
After all the emotions and off-the-court pageantry that marked last year’s homecoming for Dawn Staley against her former team, the second game of the home-and-home series in Columbia will inevitably not carry quite the same level of symbolism and narrative significance that last year’s contest did.
But Staley did say it’s not as though Friday’s game will be emotionless. She’s still taking on a program where she came up as a head coach, now led by a close personal friend who played alongside her at Virginia in college in Tonya Cardoza.
“Temple’s always going to be near and dear to my heart,” Staley said. “It’s always going to be a special place, so any time we play them, we want to beat them, but certainly there’s a lot of love.”
And like last year, it seems unlikely that the game itself will be too competitive. The Gamecocks are still finding their way without A’ja Wilson, but the Owls have lost five consecutive games on the road and haven’t beaten a ranked team since February 2017. The two players USC will have to keep an eye on, Staley said, are graduate student guard Alliya Butts and sophomore forward Mia Davis (more on Davis below).
Keeping players hungry
Staley surprised fans when she gave redshirt senior guard Nelly Perry and freshman guard Destanni Henderson their first starts of the season last Sunday against Purdue, but both players only wound up playing around 10 minutes.
With as many guards as Staley has and wants to play, she said she feels mixing things up will force her players to prepare better. Accordingly, she hasn’t decided on a starting lineup for Temple.
“We just gotta keep everybody on track and keep everybody honest, and I’m trying my best to do that by switching up the lineup and shaking up some things, just to keep them hungry,” Staley said. “I didn’t even tell them who’s starting at this point. We got another shootaround to decide which way we want to go, and I actually like with this team in that, you can get settled in. If you don’t play a whole lot, you can get settled in in thinking you’re not going to play. But if I shake some things up, it gives people an opportunity to prep a little bit different, a little bit better, have some more focus.”
Bianca Jackson bounceback
Sophomore guard Bianca Jackson has endured a slow start to the season but got things going against Purdue, chipping in 14 points in 31 minutes, including three crucial free throws in overtime, for arguably her best performance of the year.
The issue, Staley said, has been that surplus of guards, as she believes Jackson is the kind of player who needs extended minutes to settle in and play her best basketball.
“She had a good week of prep time before (Purdue). Bianca’s the type of player that she needs a lot of minutes. The best things about her are all the little things. She knows what we need to do offensively and defensively. She just needs a lot of time to display that, time that we just don’t have, because we have so many guards,” Staley.
That being said, Staley added that she would not hesitate to stick with a lineup or combination that’s producing, and she also said she was pleased with the play of Jackson, redshirt senior guard Cuevas-Moore, junior guard Tyasha Harris, redshirt senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore, redshirt senior forward Alexis Jennings, and junior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, who all played all 10 minutes of overtime.
NOTES
South Carolina projected starting lineup: Junior guard Tyasha Harris, sophomore guard Bianca Jackson, redshirt senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore, redshirt senior forward Alexis Jennings, junior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan
Temple projected starting lineup: Graduate student guard Alliya Butts, sophomore guard Emani Mayo, freshman guard Marissa Mackins, sophomore forward Mia Davis, junior center Shannen Atkinson
South Carolina key stats: According to Her Hoop Stats, South Carolina is averaging 103.8 points per 100 possessions, good for 38th in the nation and fifth in the SEC. ... USC has five players with block rates above 3.5 percent, most in the SEC, led by Victaria Saxton at 13.3 percent. ... The Gamecocks are one of the most whistled teams in the nation, at 19.1 personal fouls per game. That ranks 255th nationally and next to last in the SEC.
Temple key stats: The Owls are averaging just 1.3 blocked shots per game, fewer than South Carolina junior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan is averaging all by herself (1.9) and tied for 337th in the country. ... Temple is solid on the glass, however, averaging 15.3 offensive rebounds per game, fourth in the American Athletic Conference. ... Sophomore Mia Davis is nearly averaging a double-double with 20.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game and leads the Owls in usage rate and points per scoring attempt. She leads the AAC in scoring and is third in rebounds.
