Gamecocks ‘tend to relax’ in second halves. How Dawn Staley’s combating that
Throughout its 4-0 start, South Carolina women’s basketball has posted some gaudy statistics — the Gamecocks rank in the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage defense, scoring defense, blocked shots and scoring margin, winning games by an average of 34.3 points.
And while coach Dawn Staley is pleased with the results, she’s less than thrilled with how No. 5 USC has been finishing games. After outscoring opponents 171-78 in the first half, Carolina’s advantage has narrowed to 162-118 in the second. Specifically over the last three games, the Gamecocks have only outscored their opponents by a combined seven points over the final two quarters.
“It’s incredibly important (to put together a complete game). Just for our coaches’ psyche, we need to play better, because we’re gonna play stiffer competition, and in order for us to win those games, you gotta put 40 minutes of great effort together on both sides of the ball,” Staley said.
Of course, it hasn’t wound up mattering in the slightest so far. Against Dayton, South Carolina had the game well in hand with 22-6 lead after one quarter, and against Appalachian State, USC was even more dominant early, leading 35-3 after one quarter.
And so not letting up has become the major theme in practice this week as the Gamecocks prepare to face another opponent that will likely be overwhelmed early, USC Upstate.
“For us, we always like kind of have a fall off third quarter, finishing off the game,” senior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan said. “Especially when we’re up by a lot, sometimes we tend to relax a little bit. But (Staley’s) just been preaching to us, keep the same intensity for 40 minutes.”
The team’s response has mostly been to Staley’s liking.
“We had two intense days of practice. We played a lot more, we scrimmaged a lot more just so we could simulate quarters in a game, and then yesterday we scrimmaged a lot, and then when we were done, (senior guard Tyasha Harris’) team didn’t win so she wanted to play another scrimmage, so we ended up playing another scrimmage. So this is good stuff for us,” Staley said.
But while Staley added that she hadn’t seen any indication that her players were looking past less highly-rated opponents, she did point to one possible problem while explaining that the team’s relative youth is not the issue.
“It’s something that in which when we get the game under control, people are looking to fill the stat sheet up, and sometimes that throws off your offensive flow, and then if your offensive flow is slowed down a little bit, it trickles onto the defensive side of the ball, where you’re anxious to get the ball back to go score,” Staley said. “So it’s a little bit of that that we need to take care of.”
Defensive schemes could play a large role in Thursday’s game against the Spartans, Staley said. While USC Upstate likes to play a “funky” 2-3 zone she said she’s never really seen before, her focus with her own team has been on keeping things simple for the freshmen, a strategy that’s worked so far.
“We’ve concentrated on playing man to man defense. We don’t junk it up, we talk about playing zone or some of our other defenses, and then we get to back to no, let’s get really good at this, and then maybe when we get really good at it, we’ll be able to get good at another counter defense,” Staley said.
NEXT
Who: No. 5 South Carolina (4-0) vs. USC Upstate (3-2)
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 6:13 PM.
