How did South Carolina finally get over the hump against UConn? ‘They didn’t flinch’
As her players made their way around the court, celebrating with many of the 18,000 fans who didn’t want to leave, Dawn Staley stood in the center of the Colonial Life Arena floor, soaking in South Carolina’s 70-52 win over No. 5 UConn.
Speaking on ESPN2 after overcoming years of futility and frustration against the nation’s pre-eminent women’s basketball dynasty, Staley had an emphatic message.
“This one’s for the culture,” she crowed.
But how did the Gamecocks do it? How did they not just defeat, but dominate, a Huskies squad featuring two former No. 1 recruits and plenty of elite talent, coached by an all-time great in Geno Auriemma?
In one sense, the answer is simple.
“We’re allowed to lose a ... game once in a while, where the other team plays better than us. So how about you write that somewhere? South Carolina played way better than Connecticut,” Auriemma said. “That’s allowed to happen once in a while.”
South Carolina undoubtedly played better than UConn, outshooting the Huskies 43.9% to 36.1% from the field, 36.4% to 23.5% on 3-pointers. And UConn’s talent, while impressive, was matched by South Carolina’s own stable of top recruits and McDonald’s All-Americans.
But the Gamecocks also had a few tricks up their sleeve. Most notably, freshman forward Aliyah Boston attempted five 3-pointers, making one. Entering Monday’s game, she hadn’t tried a single shot from beyond the arc.
“It wasn’t an emphasis going in,” Staley said of Boston’s long-range exploits. “It’s something that we’ve been working up until this point, and I just felt like we could not get her the ball in the paint. And if we weren’t gonna get her the ball in the paint, let her step out, let her shoot a little bit.”
All told, nine of Boston’s shot attempts came away from the basket. She made four of them — not as successful a rate as her 61.8% shooting this season, but enough to challenge UConn in ways Auriemma admitted that he didn’t expect going in.
But it’s actually something Boston said she was working on more than a month ago. After beating Kentucky on Jan. 2, Boston said she was learning to deal with the growing number of double-teams coming her way by working her mid-range jumper.
Monday night, she took that to another level. The Huskies, not known as a team with particularly great size and length, outscored the Gamecocks in the paint, 24-18. Entering the game, USC had been averaging 42.7 points in the paint, but Staley was willing to somewhat concede the paint for outside shooting.
And Boston wasn’t the only South Carolina player firing away from deep — six different players made a 3-pointer, including every starter, the most this season. With eight made from beyond the arc, 34.3% of USC’s points came on 3-pointers, its highest total of the year.
“That’s what good teams do, you know? I mean, they’re not number one in the country for no reason. They don’t have just one way to win games,” Auriemma said.
According to Her Hoop Stats, South Carolina ranks 331st in the nation in 3-point rate, the number of 3-pointers it takes as a percentage of its overall shot attempts, at 19.3. On Monday, 31.4% of the Gamecocks’ attempts were 3s.
Those 3-pointers became especially important to start the third quarter, as senior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, senior guard Tyasha Harris and freshman guard Brea Beal each drilled one to push South Carolina’s lead past 20 points.
“We were just talking as coaches talking about what’s been working?” Staley said of the discussion at halftime. “You know, we had a couple of plays that had been working and had gotten Aliyah in a position to score a little bit closer to the basket. We just want to take whatever they gave us, but we wanted it generated from what Ty saw out there on the floor.”
Winning with such a different style of play was also a testament to the preparation and focus of South Carolina’s freshmen — Auriemma said afterward that his rookies showed their inexperience on the big stage, while Staley’s looked like veterans.
“They didn’t play the tradition of UConn,” Staley said of her team. “They didn’t, probably unlike other teams where, you know, you look and see how many national championships they won, look at how many times we lost to them. I mean, they just played the team that was out there, and they didn’t flinch.”
When do the Gamecocks play next?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (23-1, 10-0 SEC) vs. Auburn (8-13, 2-8 SEC)
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
