South Carolina women's basketball: Adhel Tac is making progress, but the Gamecocks need more

South Carolina had high hopes for Adhel Tac entering her second season. After 11 games, Tac has provided a mixed bag of results.

Tac enrolled early at South Carolina in January 2024 to focus on rehabbing her second straight season-ending leg injury. She faced such a long rehab road that she was just barely cleared to play in time for the last season.

The layoff showed. Despite South Carolina needing more post production, and Tac being the former second-ranked post in her class, Tac rarely played except in blowouts. She wasn’t in game shape, and her skills were rusty after two years of not playing.

This offseason, Tac finally had a chance to focus on improvement, not rehab, and she made what Dawn Staley described as a “180:” she slimmed down, practiced her footwork, and looked like a former top recruit again.

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South Carolina added transfer Madina Okot in the offseason, a proven veteran post, so the Gamecocks didn’t need Tac to develop into an All-American overnight. But on a thin roster with just 10 players, there would be no more hiding on the end of the bench.

Tac had a four-game run at the end of November that made Staley confident that she had turned the corner. It began with Tac’s first career double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds, against Queens. 

“I feel really comfortable on the court, and I give all that credit to my teammates and my coaches,” Tac said after the game. “They do so much, pour into me. But I know there’s still stuff I’ve got to work on, like my free throws. It was a good thing for me. It’s been a really good confidence booster for me to be out there and do the things that I’ve been working on in practice and being able to actually put it all together in a game.”

When Tac grabbed her 10th rebound, she got the biggest cheer of the day from fans and her teammates.

“Adhel, she does a lot for this team,” Raven Johnson said. “It’s the little things she does for the team, and I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of things you don’t want to do that she does for us. Seeing her happy and smiling means a lot to us.”

Tac followed that with a solid game against Duke, and then a really impressive performance against Texas, where she had two points, four rebounds, and two blocks in just eight minutes. Staley singled out Tac as one of the bright spots from the loss.

“We’re a little more comfortable with putting Adhel Tac in the game,” Staley said. “She gave us valuable minutes. I like her energy and effort out there, and I like her rebounding.”

Tac had another nice game at Louisville, but only played three minutes because Staley couldn’t take Okot off the floor. She showed enough to convince Staley to give Tac her first career start alongside Okot against NC Central, replacing guard Tessa Johnson, who missed the game with an illness.

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“She earned it,” Staley said. “I wanted to see what they look like playing together, because it wasn’t bad for a short period of time (against) Texas, they played a little bit. I want them to play well together. So they can create an option for us and then slide Joyce (Edwards) over to the perimeter.”

With Okot sidelined, Tac got her second career start against Penn State and Gracie Merkle, who was 10th in the nation in scoring and first in field goal percentage entering the game. 

It was a clear vote of confidence. Staley has been trying to instill confidence all season, and it hasn’t been lost on Tac.

“My team, my coaches, they do a great job with pushing a whole bunch of confidence to me. That and the work I’ve been putting in. I want to do more, I want to be able to help my team out more, so I’ve got to give more,” Tac said in early December. “It’s a really great thing. You want your coach have confidence in you, you want to be able to have your coach trust you, but I also feel like that just means more for me because it means I’ve got to continue going on an upward trend because I don’t know what situation I might find myself in the game now that I am playing more.”

But Tac has had trouble rewarding the confidence. In each of her two starts, she had just two points and three rebounds, despite playing a career-high 22 minutes against NC Central and 15 minutes against Penn State.

There were extenuating circumstances in both games. Ta’Niya Latson and Joyce Edwards (combined 57 points) took over against the Eagles. Penn State played a zone that made things difficult for Tac. Tac still isn’t capable of playing 30 minutes in a game. But South Carolina still needs more from her.

From coaches to players, everyone at South Carolina raves about Tac’s understanding of the game and communication skills. According to Staley, by February of 2024, barely a month after joining the team, Tac was already calling out plays in film sessions.

“Adhel, the things she does,” Raven Johnson said. “There’s not a day that we don’t hear her voice. She’s like a mother figure on this team.”

Especially without Chloe Kitts (injury) and Sania Feagin (WNBA), Tac’s vocal leadership in the frontcourt is important.

“It’s definitely something I take pride in,” Tac said. “I’m just by nature somebody who talks. Sometimes I might not want to do it, but I also see the difference that it makes when it is quiet, and my coaches look to me, or my teammates look to me, and they’re like, Hey, can you keep talking? We’re better when you talk to us. I feel like my ability to talk and also process for others helps with the team.”

“I take pride in the fact that I’m able to make differences that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” she added.

It’s a noble idea, but South Carolina needs Tac to show up on the stat sheet, too. 

“I think we can get a little bit more out of Ahdel and Maryam (Dauda), so we just continue to work with that,” Staley said after the Penn State game. “I think it’s good that Madina didn’t play, you know, and they can build some confidence. Definitely defensively, offensively we’ll get them going a little bit.”

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