Aliyah’s on fire, plus more key takeaways from South Carolina’s NCAA tournament wins
The South Carolina women’s basketball team is back in the Sweet 16, claiming two victories over the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament to earn its seventh consecutive berth into the regional semifinals.
Only three other programs in the country have longer active streaks than the one coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks have built — UConn, Stanford and Baylor. But before USC goes for the program’s fifth-ever Elite Eight on Sunday against Georgia Tech, let’s take a deeper look at how it got through the first two rounds.
1. Doing it with defense
On Jan. 18 against Arkansas, South Carolina cracked 100 points for the fourth time this season, the most in program history since 1978-79. Since then, however, the offense hasn’t been quite as explosive, cracking 80 points one time and not at all since the start of February.
Instead, the Gamecocks have used their punishing defense to win games. Heading into this NCAA tourney, South Carolina had given up just 59.7 points per game since the beginning of February. Against No. 16 seed Mercer and No. 8 seed Oregon State, that number has dropped to 47.5.
Perhaps more telling is the efficiency with which Carolina shut down the Bears and Beavers. All season long, the Gamecocks have had a defensive rating of 79.6, a top-20 mark nationally but a cut below the 71.4 points per 100 possessions they’ve allowed the past two games. That mark would rank second in the country.
“We put a lot, a lot of energy into making sure that they didn’t get off and be as efficient as they usually are,” Staley said after defeating Oregon State. “If you look at their cumulative stats, they’re staggering, all of them. They shoot well into the upper 40s, 50s from 2 and 3. It takes you back, and you got to figure out a game plan which won’t allow those numbers, those percentages to play a part in the result of the game. So we went out and just played gritty.”
Developing a defensive identity was a big area of emphasis for Staley early in the season, and it’s paid off as of late. Even when the Gamecocks are struggling to shoot, they can rely on active, aggressive defense to spark them.
2. Steal-fest
South Carolina has developed a reputation for being a shot-blocking team. A’ja Wilson and Alaina Coates started it, and sophomore forward Aliyah Boston continues that tradition today, leading USC to seven swats per game, tops in the country.
But in these first two rounds, it’s been less about stuffing shots and more about swiping the ball for the Gamecocks. After six players recorded 10 steals in the first round against Mercer, South Carolina came right back against Oregon State and had three players tally eight steals.
Those 18 total steals in 113 opponent possessions gives USC a 15.9% steal rate, again a mark that would rank second nationally over the course of the season.
And leading the way, junior guard Destanni Henderson has had seven thefts all by herself. It hasn’t been a phenomenal tournament for Henderson thus far — she went completely scoreless in the opener and needed 15 shots to get to 12 points in the second round — but Staley gave her a lot of credit for frustrating Oregon State star Aleah Goodman to the tune of 10 points on 4 of 15 shooting.
“Destanni Henderson ... just got underneath Goodman and made her think about our pressure more than wanting to attack and score and distribute the basketball,” Staley said. “And then it was a trickle-down effect.”
3. All about Aliyah
Offensively, there’s been one steady presence for South Carolina through the first two rounds — Aliyah Boston. Coming off her Most Outstanding Player performance in the SEC tournament, Boston has only kept her surge of good play going. In the first two rounds of this tournament, she’s had 39 points and 25 rebounds, shooting 14 of 26 from the field. No other Gamecock has more than 27 total points.
And Boston has done it all in a variety of ways. Against Mercer, nearly half her shots were jumpers, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer just before halftime. Against Oregon State, she went right at players who could match her size and scored eight points in the first quarter alone, simply out-maneuvering and overpowering everyone in the low post.
Of particular importance was her ability to get OSU star Taylor Jones in foul trouble. Twice in the first few minutes Tuesday, Boston backed her down and forced her to foul. Boston acknowledged after the game that it was “100%” part of the plan to attack Jones and induce fouls. And as Staley noted after the game, the production Jones had while she was on the court made it all the more critical that Boston got those fouls when she did.
“She played ... 18 minutes, and she was 60% from the floor, 13 points, four rebounds,” Staley said of Jones. “Imagine if she played her normal, 28, 30, 32 minutes. We would have been in trouble because she could have erased the lead that we had with just her production.”
As the tournament progresses, Boston will likely continue to be the center of South Carolina’s offense, with everything running through her.
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
What: NCAA tournament Sweet 16
Who: No. 1 seed South Carolina vs. No. 5 seed Georgia Tech
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
Watch: ABC
