In Gamecocks-Bulldogs Round 2, it’s no secret: Carolina must stop Teaira McCowan
Heading into their Jan. 17 matchup, South Carolina women’s basketball had a strategy in place to slow Mississippi State’s All-American center, Teaira McCowan — attack her on the offensive end in hopes of getting her in foul trouble, then deny her any space to work on the defensive end.
McCowan scored 26 points and pulled down 24 rebounds, both game highs, and the Bulldogs broke away in the fourth quarter for an 89-71 win. Afterward, USC coach Dawn Staley seemed to suggest that the Gamecocks could have overcome McCowan’s big night had they limited the rest of Mississippi State’s lineup.
But heading into this Sunday’s regular season finale between USC and MSU, Staley is once again putting McCowan at the center of her team’s game plan for victory.
“The bottom line is, McCowan’s the key. McCowan’s gotta be the one ... you gotta pick on her from an offensive standpoint, and then you can’t allow her to do the things she likes to do, rebound the basketball and turn over that left shoulder,” Staley said.
So what has to change from six weeks ago to allow Carolina to go from being dominated by McCowan’s post play to severly limiting her? According to Staley, it’s less about a strategic shift and more about execution and effort.
“You gotta stick your face in there. There’s no different way about it. You gotta be able to hold your ground, stand your ground and hopefully get in her space a little bit, because when you’re not in her space, she’s pretty automatic down there in the paint,” Staley said.
In Mississippi State’s two losses this year — at Oregon and at home against Missouri — McCowan put up double-digit rebounding totals, but was held to just 17 combined points, less than she’s averaging per game. She put up significant minutes and wasn’t in foul trouble, but in Staley’s eyes, she did get worn down over time.
Unsurprisingly, Staley said she’s watched film from both those games to better understand the path to defeating Mississippi State.
“I look at all the games that they lose, because you see a (chink) in the armor. You try to gather some things from there and execute it a little bit,” Staley said. “But our personnel is a lot different from Oregon, and it’s a lot different from Mizzou, but you take little things, little conceptual things that they don’t handle well.”
On the whole, Staley said, Mississippi State hasn’t changed much over the course of the season. She said that as a credit to coach Vic Schaefer’s system, which has produced a 97-9 record over the past three years, but it does suggest the Gamecocks won’t see anything Sunday they haven’t seen before.
“They’re the same team. They don’t stray too far off of what they do best. They stick to what they do best and they’re pretty efficient at it. He’s got a system that he likes to run, he just implements players and they seem to respond the way they need to to be successful,” Staley said.
Ultimately, if South Carolina is going to pull off the upset, the biggest difference from the Jan. 17 game will have to be USC’s consistency. Staley has spoken all season long about the Gamecocks’ tendency to hit dry spells that they then struggle to overcome later in the game. In the two teams’ first meeting, Carolina went ice cold in the crucial fourth quarter, making just four of 20 field goal attempts.
“We gotta put four quarters together. We’ve shown that we can play with anybody in the country for a quarter or two or three, but never have we put together four quarters, and we have to do that against good competition,” Staley said.
This story was originally published March 2, 2019 at 8:10 AM.
