South Carolina women's basketball: Dawn Staley is concerned about uncharacteristic defensive lapses

After two exhibitions and one real game in the 2025-26 season, South Carolina’s defense has been, well, offensive.

“I don’t even know where they got that from,” Dawn Staley said, talking about some of the switches against Grand Canyon.

It wasn’t totally out of the blue. Staley wasn’t thrilled with the defensive effort against North Carolina either. And ahead of the season opener, when she was asked about the team’s identity, she said it definitely wasn’t defense.

““What I know is we’re going to be able to put points on the scoreboard,” Staley said. “What I don’t know is how many we can eliminate our opponents from getting, which is a challenge for us. Some teams can’t put points on the scoreboard and some teams allow a lot of points. We can score. I do think we can put some points on the scoreboard. I’d like for our defensive connection to get a lot better. It’s only going to get better. There’s some really good things that we did from our North Carolina game.”

The imbalance doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise either. South Carolina brought in four new players, meaning 40% of the team this season is in its first season in garnet and black. The departed players also matter. 

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Defensive stalwarts Bree Hall and Sania Feagin are in the WNBA. Ashlyn Watkins, who was South Carolina’s best defensive player two seasons ago, is sitting out this year. And Chloe Kitts, who is a tenacious defender and was South Carolina’s top rebounder (7.7) last season, was lost for the season with a torn ACL.

“Part of it is effort. Part of it is awareness. Part of it is just chemistry. You’ve got to gain some chemistry from the players you’re playing with,” Staley said on Sunday. “It will take some time.”

She didn’t seem worried at all. Then she saw Monday night.

“We’re point switching. I don’t even know where they got that from. I really don’t know where they got this switch. It’s not been a part of who we’ve been. Other people come in with habits, and that’s what they do (but) they don’t even do that in practice. It was new to see that. And it was not just one; it was, like, our starting guards did it. They all did it at certain times. They would leave their player and go rebound. It was really undisciplined basketball that we have to clean up.”

While the switches left Staley baffled, it wasn’t all bad. 

South Carolina held Grand Canyon to 27% shooting, was plus-six on turnovers, and only allowed two fast-break points. South Carolina was a mere plus-seven rebounding, but when you shoot 60% from the floor, there are fewer rebounds to get.

“I think, in the beginning, our ball screen defense was a little cleaner than it was when we played UNC,” Staley said. “They made adjustments, and then, we couldn’t quite keep the same discipline.”

The lack of discipline goes back to the lack of chemistry, a problem that was exacerbated when Maddy McDaniel left the game with a knee injury. That left some players playing out of position with the backup point guard in the locker room.

South Carolina also doesn’t have an intimidating shot-blocker to clean up mistakes. At 6-6 and 6-5, Madina Okot and Adhel Tac are both imposing bigs, but neither blocks a lot of shots. Maryam Dauda once averaged over 2.0 blocks, but she hasn’t shown the same ability at South Carolina. In fact, so far this season, South Carolina’s best shot-blocker has been freshman Agot Makeer, who had three against Grand Canyon.

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There are some encouraging signs, though.

It is worth noting that South Carolina didn’t have any sort of scouting report to go off of for Grand Canyon. The Lopes returned just two players from last season, and since it is Winston Gandy’s first head coaching job, his only track record is what he did as an assistant at South Carolina the last two seasons.

Makeer and fellow freshman Ayla McDowell look like they could become elite defenders, but they aren’t there yet. It was good to see Tac get six rebounds in only 15 minutes of playing time. And Tessa Johnson grabbed five rebounds as she continues to rebound well from the wing. South Carolina also still has Raven Johnson, one of the best on-ball defenders in the country, out in front.

Until things get worked out, the Gamecocks may have to rely on their offense to be their best defense. They did it in 2020, when the offense was so elite that the defense didn’t have to be perfect. It’s not the way Staley wants to win, but it will do.

“Luckily, we can put points on the scoreboard,” she said. “I do like the fact that we can put points on the scoreboard. But we can’t rely on scoring 90 points every game.”

They might be able to, though.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!