No. 1 Gamecocks tied at the top of SEC standings, playing ‘one big game at a time’
Dawn Staley always keeps an eye on SEC play.
After South Carolina defeated Ole Miss last Thursday, Staley was sure to catch at least two other conference games played that night. She watched then-No. 12 LSU drop its second consecutive SEC contest to mid-tier Arkansas. Then-No. 4 Tennessee lost its first conference game to Auburn, which had gone 0-7 in conference play before hosting the Vols.
Despite a conventional narrative, Staley wouldn’t call those outcomes upsets — not in the SEC.
“We say upsets, but in this league, anything can happen,” Staley said. “Nothing is really an upset to us because it’s happening too frequently.”
The Gamecocks have handled their business since falling in their first SEC game Dec. 30 to unranked Missouri on the road. Embarking on an eight-game winning streak since its lone loss, South Carolina has remained No. 1 in The Associated Press poll since the preseason and was the first team to reach 20 wins in the 2021-22 season.
Despite USC’s national ranking, the Vols held the advantage over the Gamecocks in SEC standings until their loss to Auburn last week.
The method behind Staley’s decision to cancel last week’s game with UConn to make up the postponed Ole Miss game has already paid off. As of Wednesday, South Carolina and the Vols are both 8-1 in conference play and tied at the top of the SEC standings.
Now that Tennessee has lost and the Gamecocks have made up that postponed SEC game, USC has the opportunity to claim their sixth SEC regular-season title of the last nine seasons by winning out.
Before Tennessee fell to Auburn, South Carolina had the Missouri loss to manage when considering paths to the SEC regular-season crown, and Tennessee hadn’t lost a conference game yet.
Staley knew that canceling the popular game with Geno Auriemma’s squad could potentially upset fans, but she prioritized finding a place for the SEC game to avoid falling behind in the conference.
“We’re in a position where we’re looking up, there’s somebody that has a better record than us in this league,” Staley said before the Ole Miss game. “Every game becomes super important. … We’re taking one game at a time, one big game at a time, because they’re all big.”
South Carolina dominated Ole Miss in a 29-point win the same night Tennessee suffered its first loss. The Gamecocks will have their shot at Tennessee in Columbia on Feb. 20.
Past staying on Tennessee’s heels, Staley has said she looks to create separation in the SEC. As of Wednesday, LSU is the next team up behind the Gamecocks and Vols, sitting two games behind them in standings. Georgia, Ole Miss and Florida each remain 2 1/2 games from the top.
South Carolina has already defeated three of those teams at least once, with the Georgia matchup scheduled for Feb. 13 in Athens and a second meeting with Ole Miss on the slate to wrap regular-season play in Oxford on Feb. 27.
Staley and the Gamecocks believe they see every opponent’s best effort. Even still, they’ve mustered nine wins over ranked teams, including one of the nation’s most competitive non-conference slates before SEC play.
The difficult non-conference schedule readied the Gamecocks for SEC competition, South Carolina star Aliyah Boston said.
“I just think having that hard schedule, it was a good time for us to learn, but (it) also prepared us,” Boston said after the Ole Miss game. “The SEC is just physical. That’s what it is, and teams come to compete every game. Playing that hard non-conference schedule just set us up for that.”
South Carolina has seven games left to play in February before the SEC regular-season title is decided. The trip to No. 14 Georgia and home meeting with No. 7 Tennessee likely pose the most difficult challenges, though preparing for each team’s top effort is how Staley and the Gamecocks are going to control their own destiny for the remainder of the regular season.
“You just have to control the controllable,” Staley said. “For us, it’s just getting in here, prepping and then going out there and performing. We know we’ve got a little extra target on our back because of our ranking, but we don’t approach it that way. We just approach it as we’ve got a job to do, and our players want to win.”
The Gamecocks host Alabama in their next game Thursday at Colonial Life Arena. The matchup starts at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
SEC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
As of Wednesday, with conference record, then overall record listed
T-1. South Carolina (8-1, 20-1)
T-1. Tennessee (8-1, 19-2)
3. LSU (6-3, 18-4)
T-4. Ole Miss (5-3, 17-4)
T-4. Georgia (5-3, 16-4)
T-4. Florida (5-3, 15-6)
7. Missouri (5-4, 16-6)
T-8. Arkansas (4-4, 14-7)
T-8. Mississippi State (4-4, 13-7)
10. Vanderbilt (3-5, 12-10)
11. Kentucky (2-6, 9-9)
12. Alabama (2-7, 11-9)
13. Texas A&M (1-7, 11-9)
14. Auburn (1-8, 9-11)
