Layups aren’t always layups for No. 1 South Carolina. Dawn Staley wants to fix that
There’s always something to improve on.
The South Carolina women’s basketball team is riding high at No. 1 in the country, coming off a thorough win against SEC rival Tennessee. When coach Dawn Staley was asked what might help her team take “the next step” and be even more dominant, she had an immediate answer.
“I mean, if we could just make layups, I think we’re going to be in a better place. I mean, wide-open layups where we could take advantage of probably 80% of having an advantage in transition offense,” Staley said. “If we could just do that, because for me those are routine plays that you should convert. I don’t know what our conversion rate is, but it’s not at a high level, like the opportunities that we’re getting.”
Teams track layups in different ways and it’s not an exact figure, but StatBroadcast numbers have the Gamecocks shooting 118-for-189 on layups through nine SEC games — that’s 62.4%. That number doesn’t differentiate between fast-break layups and ones in traffic but is still well below the 80% mark Staley cited as a goal.
And in conference play, the Gamecocks are averaging 19.6 points and 17.2 fast-break points off 14.7 opponent turnovers per game. Some of those turnovers result in dead-ball situations — when play stops and must be restarted, precluding any chance of a fast-break. But given how uncontested fast-break looks often are, Staley’s frustration seems focused on the 1.33 points per turnover USC is currently averaging.
In the Tennessee game that Staley’s remarks followed, South Carolina shot 4-for-10 on layups, one of it worst games in that regard. Against Vanderbilt and Missouri combined, two recent games that also featured some rough stretches for USC, the Gamecocks also shot under 50% on layups.
Taking care of business and finishing high-percentage plays is something Staley has mentioned before — after South Carolina defeated Ole Miss handily, she pointed out that the offense missed some plays it normally should make.
“There are certain things that we’re looking at, like routine plays we weren’t able to convert,” Staley said. “We turned the ball over in a routine, where we run our play, hit the wing, post player’s wide open and we miss her. Or we come off a screen and we try to dump the ball down to one of our bigs by making a bounce pass when she’s much more efficient when you give her the ball up top.
“Just little nuances where we just have to make better decisions. … There are certain things that we have to convert like 90% of the time if we want to get the most out of this season.”
On the other side of the ball, Staley said the Gamecocks allowed the Lady Vols to consistently set up their star player, Rennia Davis, in her favorite spot along the baseline using some screening action.
“I think at times, you got to get better at recognizing just plays which are repetitive,” Staley said.
Mississippi State was able to do a similar thing against USC, relying heavily on dribble drives that South Carolina couldn’t seem to adjust to or stop.
Still, the Gamecocks have been able to get through those issues with 15 consecutive wins and a perfect start to SEC play so far. And while Staley isn’t completely satisfied, she’s also capable of recognizing all the positives.
“We’re not really looking at the score, we’re looking at execution because if we’re going to be able to execute on both sides of the ball, the score will take care of itself. So we want to work on creating very good habits, and I thought (the game against Tennessee) was a step in the right direction for us to continue that in a broader sense,” Staley said.
When do the Gamecocks play next?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (21-1, 9-0 SEC) vs. No. 25 Arkansas (18-4, 6-3 SEC)
When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: 1320 AM/107.5 FM in Columbia area
