Gamecocks open ‘loaded up’ final stretch of SEC play against ranked Tennessee
Dawn Staley, along with many of her colleagues, is known to say there are no easy games in SEC women’s basketball.
But even by the conference’s usual standards, the next two weeks represent a brutal stretch for Staley and her South Carolina team.
Starting Thursday night on the road against No. 21 Tennessee, the No. 2 Gamecocks will play three ranked opponents in four games to close out the regular season. Those three ranked foes — the Lady Vols, Kentucky and Texas A&M — also happen to be right behind South Carolina in the SEC standings.
“Our last four games are loaded up,” Staley acknowledged. “I don’t think anybody else in our conference has the type of load that we have at the end of this regular season.”
While USC remains in first place and in prime position to claim its sixth regular season title in eight years, any stumble down the stretch could be costly. Staley knows that, and as the calendar shifts to late February, it brings another level of intensity even beyond that of normal SEC play.
“The intensity for me goes up, because any loss has impact on the SEC, has impact on the NCAA tournament. And for us, we just have to make sure that we’re tightening the things that we need to do down the stretch,” Staley said. “A loss, it’s not devastating. But certainly, it’s something that we don’t want to feel at this point in the season because it has direct ramifications of where we’re trying to go and what we’re trying to do.
Most immediately, that means handling a Lady Vols squad that hasn’t been ranked this high in February since 2018. Under coach Kellie Harper, Tennessee is one of the few teams in the SEC and the entire country that can match or even exceed South Carolina’s length and size. The Gamecocks’ average height is just over an even 6-foot, while the Lady Vols’ are over 6-foot-1.25.
That extra size, led by 6-foot-5 sophomore Tamari Key and featuring a starting lineup all above 6-foot, has allowed the Volunteers to rank sixth nationally in rebounding rate, per Her Hoop Stats. South Carolina ranks fourth, making for an intriguing matchup inside come Thursday.
“Size-wise, they’re bigger than we are. I don’t think it changes how we approach it,” Staley said. “Obviously, we have to utilize our speed in transition. We also have to utilize our ability to apply pressure and play underneath them to bother them with our pressure. And then we have to box out. They go to the boards, they’re a great rebounding basketball team. So are we. And it will be a battle. I’ll like to see where we end up on the boards with a team like Tennessee at the end of the game.”
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 2 South Carolina (17-2, 12-0 SEC) vs. No. 21 Tennessee (12-5, 6-3 SEC)
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
