Zia Cooke stayed patient. Now, she’s setting career highs for South Carolina
South Carolina senior guard Zia Cooke is in the midst of the best season of her four-year career — and head coach Dawn Staley wonders what took her so long to do so.
Staley knew the No. 4 ranked recruit in the Class of 2019 could play, but Cooke’s displayed a different level of excellence in her senior season.
“It took you four years to take good shots,” Staley told Cooke on Sunday.
“Yeah, it was just God’s timing,” Cooke responded.
A product of Toledo, Ohio, Cooke is averaging career highs in points, assists, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and made 3-pointers per game. She’s also averaging the fewest turnovers per game of her career, despite taking on more minutes at point guard.
She’s led South Carolina in scoring in 10 of its first 20 games, including her 24-point performance in the team’s 92-46 win on Sunday against Arkansas. Sunday marked the fourth time she’s scored 20 or more points in a game this season.
“I think I’ve been mentally in a great space since the beginning of the season,” Cooke said. “I was having fun out there. I just try my best to play like that every time I step on the floor.”
Cooke’s playing confidently, taking the same shots she’s missed in the earlier parts of games, driving to the rim to earn free throw attempts and celebrating after a made basket with various dances or poses.
Missed shots don’t deter Cooke like they did in the past. As a result, they’ve made her more efficient.
“Last year, (they) would have probably made her shoot four or five bad shots in the second half,” Staley said. “She didn’t do that. She just relied on her ability to just create the habit of taking good shots and making shots.”
Her production this season serves as the ultimate foil to her junior campaign, which featured career lows in points and field goal, free throw and 3-point percentage.
Throughout her career, Staley’s encouraged Cooke to remain locked in when shots aren’t falling. Staley told her that she’s not “one-dimensional” as a player and that scoring isn’t the only way for her to impact a game.
“Before the season I’m just like, ‘Zia, you just gotta eff it and play,’” Staley said. “Don’t think about anything. Just do you. Don’t get caught up with a missed shot.’”
Showing up at the right time
Cooke’s production gives the Gamecocks (20-0, 8-0 SEC) a new dimension, especially when she’s having an efficient shooting night.
When Aliyah Boston was facing quadruple-teams against Georgia, she supplied a 31-point performance that lifted USC to a win. Cooke’s second half offense against South Dakota State helped South Carolina put the game away in the fourth quarter.
In the second game of the season against Maryland, she scored 10 of her 18 points in the Gamecocks’ explosive third quarter to space the floor for the team. She also delivered her first of three games with at least four made 3-pointers this season during that outing.
“Zia has just grown in such a great way,” Boston said. “I think she has been just excelling. She’s putting in all the work after practice. She’s getting shots up after shootaround. And it’s just continuing to pay off.”
Cooke is now one of the team’s veterans, and has much experience to speak of.
She’s seen one season ended prematurely due to COVID-19, and another ended in a heartbreaking Final Four loss before aiding USC to on its national championship run.
And that’s been similar to how her performance on the court is playing out. It took time for Cooke to fully figure things out, but the more she does so, the more dangerous the Gamecocks become.
“She’s mentally tougher,” Staley said. “She’s mentally stronger. It’s all come together. We had hoped it came together a little bit sooner. But her time is her time. It couldn’t happen at a better time.”
Zia Cooke’s career year
Statistics for 2022-23 through Monday
- Points per game: 15.8 (up from 10.7 in 2021-22)
- Assists per game: 2.1 (up from 1.7)
- Field goal percentage: 43% (up from 34%)
- Free throw percentage: 80.5% (up from 70.5%)
- 3-pointers per game: 2.0 (up from 1.3)
- Turnovers per game: 1.4 (down from 2.0)
