South Carolina women's basketball: Adhel Tac and Maryam Dauda have made "180s" since last season

Ta’Niya Latson’s layup rimmed off, but Adhel Tac reached over the defender, grabbed the miss, gathered, and went back up. She muscled through the collapsing defense for the putback and a foul.

Tac let out a primal scream. Her teammates mobbed her. The crowd roared. Never mind that the score was now 55-30 with 90 seconds left in the first half. They celebrated like it was a game-winner.

Tac celebrated because plays like that have been few and far between. Knee injuries kept her off the court for almost two years, and when she finally returned last season, she was a shell of her former self and rarely played except in blowouts.

The rest of the Gamecocks and the fans celebrated because they know they need production from Tac this season, but mostly because they want to see her succeed.

Tac missed the free throw, and she didn’t score again. But she had six rebounds, the second most on the team, in just 15 minutes. 

Tac played well enough to steal minutes from Maryam Dauda, her frontcourt partner off the bench, who only played 10 minutes. 

For the optimist, it was a good sign. Dauda had excelled in the two exhibitions, averaging 8.0 points and 2.5 rebounds, and looking more comfortable than she has at any point with South Carolina. Dauda is also Tac’s only competition as everyone’s favorite teammate.

“She’s a complete 180,” Dawn Staley said. “Just more aware, she’s moving well. She’s probably the nicest on the team, so they want it for her.”

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Two years ago at Arkansas, Dauda started every game, averaged 10.1 points and 6.3 rebounds, and led the SEC with 2.8 blocks per conference game. When she entered the transfer portal, she had interest from all over the country. 

Most programs viewed her as a likely starter, but as soon as South Carolina showed interest, Dauda canceled other visits and committed to the Gamecocks. She knew she was turning down guaranteed playing time to be a reserve on a deep bench, but she was attracted to South Carolina’s culture and history of developing forwards. 

Neither side anticipated how much Dauda would struggle to adapt last season. She scored 10 points just once, and averaged only 2.0 points on 32.1% shooting while blocking just five shots all season.

Dauda’s attitude never dipped, and when she outplayed Oklahoma All-American Raegan Beers in the SEC Tournament, it was proof of concept that the work all season was paying off.

With that in mind, Dauda spent her summer in Columbia working out. The coaches’ demands started to make sense. When the exhibitions rolled around, she looked like the former McDonald’s All-American she is: talented, confident, and versatile.

“I’m proud of Maryam,” Staley said after the North Carolina game. “She’s been working her tail off all summer long, gave up her summer to stay here and work out. And now the games are a lot cleaner for her. She can see things a lot better. She could process things a lot better.”

“I feel like the work I put in over the summer and like the confidence and the confidence that my teammates pour into me every day just, it grows,” Dauda said. “I just have to trust myself, and that’s when I do every day when I go into practice.”

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While Dauda was explaining her perspective, Tac was behind her, still practicing. Like Dauda, Tac spent the summer working out. She dropped the weight she had gained while she was hurt and is able to move around the court like she wants.

“Adhel, oh my goodness, she is such a good confidence booster,” Dauda said. “Her speaking helps everybody else, even when she’s not in the play, she’s always speaking. nd I feel like that helps us in general on the court.”

Dauda isn’t the only Gamecock who raves about Tac’s intelligence and communication. With her senior season of high school ended due to injury, Tac enrolled early in January of 2024 to rehab with the South Carolina medical staff.

By February, she was breaking down film better than her teammates. By March, she was calling out plays from the bench. Even last season, when her body still didn’t always do what she wanted, Tac was the smartest player on the team.

“Adhel is, from an intangible communication skills (perspective), like Aliyah (Boston),” Staley said. “She sees everything, she talks about what’s happening out there on the floor. She’ll probably be the one that, if she’s on the floor and they huddle up, she is probably the one that’s talking. She’s that aware. She had that last year, too, but now her skill set is catching up to her communication skills, and when you have those things interacting, she’s gonna be great for us. I can’t wait.”

With just two exhibitions and one game to go off of, it’s dangerous to draw too many conclusions about this season’s Gamecocks. But with Chloe Kitts out for the season, it appears there will be a lot of frontcourt by committee this season.

Joyce Edwards is coming off an All-American season and is entrenched as a starter. She is the one player who is probably going to play close to 30 minutes every game.

Madina Okot nearly averaged a double-double last season and has flashed enough potential to be a first-round draft pick. Her potential alone keeps her in the starting lineup. But all four have different strengths, including Dauda and Tac.

“They’re actually doing things that Joyce and Madina aren’t doing,” Staley said. “They have to, that’s one, but they’re defending at a high rate. They’re rebounding at a high rate. They’re more really aware of what’s happening. And you need for role players like them to play that way, distinctively different than how our starters are playing. They’re going to allow us to go deep and have the depth that we’ve had in previous years.”

Dauda and Tac have their next opportunity to make an impact on Friday when South Carolina hosts Bowling Green.

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