What to look for on offense and defense in South Carolina’s Final Four matchup
When South Carolina women’s basketball takes on Stanford on Friday in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, the Gamecocks will be facing a Cardinal squad that might remind them of someone.
Like last year’s USC team, this version of Stanford features a balanced attack with no clear-cut star. In 2019-20, the Gamecocks had four players average between 13.1 and 12 points per game, with nine getting more than 10 minutes per game. In 2020-21, the Cardinal have four players averaging between 14.5 and 10.1 points per game and nine with at least 10 minutes per game.
In 33 games last year, South Carolina outscored opponents by an average of 25.9 points per game. In 31 games so far this year, Stanford is outscoring opponents by an average of 25.5 points.
This year’s South Carolina team is a touch behind those statistical marks, but both coaches offered high praise for the other’s team in the run-up to Friday’s game. Here’s what to look for on each side of the ball for USC.
OFFENSE
While the Gamecocks might not have quite the same level of depth that Stanford has featured this season, one area where they’re clearly ahead of the Cardinal is on the boards.
While Stanford is no slouch in the rebounding department, with the 11th best rebounding rate in the country per Her Hoop Stats, South Carolina has established itself as one of nation’s most elite teams on the glass, ranking fourth in rebounding rate.
That disparity is especially sharp when it comes to offensive rebounding. South Carolina 42.2% of its own misses this year, while Stanford’s defensive rebounding rate stands at 73.5% — good, but outside the top 25.
“The most obvious thing is we have to rebound,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said Thursday when asked what her team would have to do to slow USC down. “They’re a team that out-rebounds their opponents by 15. And if our team is not going to be on the glass, we’re be coming home Saturday morning. We must rebound.”
The other facet of the game where the Gamecocks have an edge is in transition. Coach Dawn Staley has made no secret of her desire to get up and down the court all year long, while Stanford tends to play at a far more deliberate pace. Both coaches said Thursday that focus won’t change — Stanford will look to limit turnovers and get back on defense quickly, while South Carolina will seek to score quickly.
From Staley’s perspective, attacking fast and aggressively is necessary to counteract all of the Cardinal’s depth.
“We gotta give it back to them. We do some things that are deliberate and distinctive on the offensive end, and we have to try to make sure that they’re making adjustments on the defensive side of the ball,” Staley said.
DEFENSE
Not only does Stanford feature one of the deepest lineups in the country, the Cardinal also shoot the ball extremely well. On the season, they rank sixth nationally in 3-point percentage, and they’ve shot above 40% from deep in every game this tourney. And it’s not as though they have been shy about letting it fly — they’re already tied for the third most 3-pointers in tournament history.
“You can’t look at it as the depth of Stanford. You can’t look at it as, they’re gonna spread you out. You can’t look at the cumulative stats. You can’t look at how many 3s they make,” Staley said. “You have to look at what you need to do to disrupt that. And that’s how we’re approaching it. We have to have major disruption, and let the chips fall where they may.
“You have two days to prepare for a team like Stanford, you better prepare for conceptually what they like to do. Because they have so many options in all of their sets, that if you try to methodically go over all of them, you’re not doing what you need to do to prep on the other side of the ball.”
Potentially making life a little easier for USC is the fact that Stanford freshman forward Cameron Brink, the team’s fourth-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, tweaked her leg in the Elite Eight and missed most of the second half. VanDerveer sounded cautiously optimistic that she would be able to play Friday but didn’t say anything definitive.
Still, even without Brink, the Cardinal were able to rally late against Louisville to make it to the Final Four, with sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel coming off the bench to tally 16 second-half points to showcase just how much depth the team has — and the tall task the Gamecocks face. VanDerveer compared her team’s ability to have different players step up to that of an orchestra.
““There’s gonna be different solos every night, and we have gotten different solos, but the best thing is, when someone is doing a solo, the other members of the orchestra are still playing,” VanDerveer said.
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
What: NCAA tournament Final Four
Who: No. 1 seed South Carolina vs. No. 1 seed Stanford
When: 6 p.m. Friday
Where: Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 7:40 AM.
