Analysis: Gamecocks’ defensive identity keeps building in lopsided rivalry victory
On a few occasions, Zia Cooke has met with reporters after South Carolina women’s basketball games this season and promised: When the Gamecocks hit their stride and put it all together, it’ll be “scary” — but they weren’t there just yet.
The sophomore guard didn’t speak to media following USC’s 75-52 road win over No. 19 Mississippi State on Thursday. If she had, her response seems like it would be fairly obvious: The Gamecocks are getting close, but are still not quite as dominant as they can be.
There was a slow start — “We have to settle down,” coach Dawn Staley said — and there was some inefficient shooting, just 40.9% from the field. And star sophomore forward Aliyah Boston dealt with some foul trouble.
In years past, that might have meant trouble against a Mississippi State squad that has become Carolina’s most consistent challenger for SEC supremacy. On Thursday, though, it wasn’t anywhere near enough to threaten the Gamecocks. The result was the most-lopsided result in the series since 2012, a stretch spanning 15 matchups.
The key to it all was South Carolina’s defense, which stifled Mississippi State in the first quarter when Boston was mostly on the bench. That early stretch allowed the Gamecocks to stay close even without their biggest threat. When Boston returned in the second quarter, the Bulldogs shied away from the paint, attempting 36 jump shots inside the 3-point line compared to just 15 layup attempts.
By comparison, South Carolina balanced itself with 29 2-point jump shots against 24 layups. And unsurprisingly, that led to a 44-28 discrepancy in points in the paint.
“We knew that they were shot blockers, and when (we drove and stopped in the lane), we got to the free throw line,” Mississippi State coach Nikki McCray-Penson said. “I think when you’re going into a crowd, you know, we talk a lot about being able to stop with speed and having solutions. And this particular game, the last two days we’ve been focusing on getting to the rim, stride stopping and pump faking. And we just didn’t do that. So we threw it up there. We threw it up, and it was a bad miss, which led to an easy run-out for them.”
The Bulldogs didn’t do themselves any favors with some of those shots and a ghastly 5-of-15 performance from the free throw line. But South Carolina deserves a lot of credit for limiting MSU’s best players to relatively inefficient nights and completely handcuffing their depth.
“They got some good players. (Sophomore Rickea Jackson) got some buckets on us. (Junior forward) Jessika Carter got some buckets on us. (Redshirt junior guard) Myah Taylor did what she was supposed to do,” Staley said. “And I thought we just held everybody else in check and didn’t let them have big games.”
Indeed, outside of that trio, Mississippi State scored just 15 points, shooting a paltry 21.4% from the floor.
For going on several weeks, Staley has spoken about developing a gritty defensive persona for her team. In the past five games, the Gamecocks haven’t lowered their points-against average all that much, but they have seemed to up their intensity on that side of the ball. And that has helped them get through a stretch where their once-torrid offensive pace has cooled.
The fact that the Gamecocks were able to so effectively contain the Bulldogs, one of the nation’s most efficient offenses in the past few years, and win by such a large margin while still shooting five percentage points below their season average made one fact apparent: At least for now, what had become a fairly even rivalry has tilted decisively in favor of South Carolina. Not that Staley is counting Mississippi State out for long.
“We got to take this win on the road against a good Mississippi State team — and I know people may not think that, but they have players, they have some great players,” Staley said. “They haven’t gotten it all together but I’m sure come another month, Nikki will have them going.”
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 4 South Carolina (13-1, 8-0 SEC) vs. Alabama (12-3, 5-3 SEC)
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia
Watch: SEC Network
