With rebounding and speed, Destanni Henderson emerges as star for Gamecocks
Look down the list of the top 20 rebounders in SEC women’s basketball, and you’ll see a host of forwards and centers, almost all standing 6-foot or taller.
And then there’s Destanni Henderson.
The South Carolina junior guard is just 5-foot-7, not just the shortest player in that top 20, but the shortest on the entire Gamecocks roster. And yet she is the team’s fourth-leading rebounder, pulling down more than six boards per game this year. According to Her Hoop Stats, she ranks in the 85th percentile of all players nationally.
Ask her, and she’ll pass the credit for her numbers on to her teammates.
“A lot of times the offense isn’t crashing the boards, so defensively, that’s when I get my rebounds,” Henderson said. “Also because our post players are in the paint battling with each other, so they’re boxing out their player which also gives me the ability to rebound the basketball.”
Coach Dawn Staley agrees with that assessment. But there’s more to it, she said.
“She’s a ball magnet. I think she’s playing some of her best basketball and I think she just wants to get the ball, push that ball up the floor,” Staley said. “She was a rebounding guard in (high school), she rebounded the ball for USA Basketball, so I mean it’s not out of the ordinary for her. It’s just an added element to her game that we’re seeing.”
It’s an element that’s proven especially key for the Gamecocks this season — Staley has repeatedly said USC’s offense is best in transition, and when Henderson is able to get the ball herself off an opponent’s missed shot, she can immediately start attacking downhill instead of waiting for a post player to secure the ball and find her for an outlet pass.
“When the ball’s in her hands, she puts everyone, even us, even her teammates, on the back of their heels,” Staley said. “We are screaming to our others, (sophomore guard Zia Cooke) and (sophomore guard Brea Beal) and (senior guard LeLe Grissett) to get out, get out, get out in front of the ball. And sometimes that’s pretty hard because she’s probably quicker than the quickest guard without the ball than her with the ball. So it’s an element of our game that we’ve been harping on, for her to utilize her speed.”
Of the 6.1 rebounds Henderson is averaging per game, an average of 4.9 come on the defensive end. That’s nearly five possessions a game where South Carolina can be on the run, beating the defense down the floor, instead of getting bogged down in the half court.
In USC’s last game, a gritty 75-70 win over No. 10 Kentucky, Henderson pulled down six defensive rebounds, and the resulting transition game was key.
“I just told our team that 40%, 41% of our offense was transition, we pushed the ball,” Staley said. “So if that didn’t take place, I don’t think we win that game, because our half court offense was not as sharp as it needed to be.”
With Henderson’s rebounding helping to showcase her speed down the floor, she’s emerged as a breakout star early in the season, rising to No. 25 in ESPN’s rankings of the top players in the country. And even beyond that, Staley said her point guard turned heads at the highest level of basketball against Kentucky.
“I got some friends, some Philly coaches that coach in Division I, some of them coach in the NBA. And they text me on our group thread and ... one of them coaches for the Boston Celtics and he’s like, ‘We need that point guard our team, the way she pushed that ball up the floor was unreal,’” Staley said.
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 5 South Carolina (8-1) vs. Vanderbilt (4-2)
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network via WatchESPN
