South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch - Auburn

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1. No Time to Relax
February is when the SEC grind can begin to take its toll. While other teams still have another bye on their schedule, South Carolina fills its open date with a game against UConn. On top of that, South Carolina is only a week removed from an exhausting game against LSU.

“When you play such a big game it really takes a lot out of you physically, emotionally,” Dawn Staley said. “You’re tired. I thought our players did a great job on Sunday trying to get their legs back.”

Te-Hina Paopao was less charitable. 

“We’ve just got to show up and be ready to play,” she said. “I think (against) Vanderbilt we were a little slow at the start. The LSU game took a lot out of us emotionally, physically, and mentally, so we’re just hopping back on that horse and getting back to being who we are.”

But South Carolina still got a win. The Gamecocks don’t have to look far to see what could go wrong. 

 LSU, despite having an extra day to rest, lost Monday night at Mississippi State. Furthermore, the Tigers’ first conference loss was at Auburn in a game that saw Auburn outhustle LSU for four quarters.

Staley gave South Carolina Monday off to rest. She wasn’t happy with Tuesday’s practice but said Wednesday was a great day of practice. Now the Gamecocks have to take that energy on the road.

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2. The Woman in the Middle
Kamilla Cardoso has been on a surge over South Carolina’s past three games. She is averaging 17.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks. She tied her season-high with 23 points against Vanderbilt despite only playing 24 minutes and sitting the entire fourth quarter. Cardoso also set up Bree Hall’s go-ahead three against LSU with a nice pass out of the double-team.

“We tell her every day to dominate and she’s been doing that,” Paopao said. “It’s been translating into the game. She’s got to keep that chip on her shoulder and know that she’s the best player in the nation.”

Staley said that Cardoso, who is notoriously reluctant to speak to the media, has matured in practice and become more assertive. Last season she could fade into the background because Aliyah Boston got most of the attention. 

Now Cardoso has embraced being the focal point. She knows where everyone else should be. That’s how she found Hall against LSU, and why after averaging less than an assist per game the last two seasons, Cardoso is averaging 2.2 assists this season. That’s more than Boston ever averaged.

“Her practices are different,” Staley said. “You really have to change your focus when you become the focal point. She could fly under the radar and let Aliyah take the brunt of that. Now it’s only her. She’s handled it well.”

“She’s the difference between us winning a championship and not,” Staley added.

That could be put to the test in the next couple of weeks if Cardoso leaves to play for the Brazilian national team in the Olympic qualifying tournament. Cardoso has not publicly announced her plans yet.

3. Ball-screen defense
On Wednesday, Staley was asked what she wants South Carolina to fine-tune over the next month before postseason play starts. She mentioned cleaning up late-game execution and taking care of the ball, but it was clear that she has one primary concern: ball-screen defense. 

“Ball screen defense is something that will challenge us throughout the remainder of the season because a lot of people do it and a lot of people have seen us have some lapses in it,” Staley said.

South Carolina will be tested on Thursday night by Auburn. The Tigers like to run a lot of screens to try to get Honesty Scott-Grayson open looks. They were very successful with it against LSU when Scott-Grayson scored 21 points.

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4. Block watch
It’s been a while since we checked on South Carolina’s blocked shots statistics. Currently, South Carolina is averaging 8.57 blocks per game. 

In SEC play, the Gamecocks are “only” blocking 6.86 shots per game. That is down from 9.58 in non-conference play. 

As a result, the Gamecocks are no longer on pace to surpass last season’s block numbers, which set NCAA records. Last season the Gamecocks blocked 326 shots for an average of 8.81 per game.

It only takes one game (cough – Arkansas) to get back on pace, though.

5. Scouting the Tigers
Auburn might be the prototypical SEC team this season: a little undersized but veteran players who play great defense but sometimes suspect offense.

Scott-Grayson leads Auburn in scoring at 16.2 points, an average that jumps to 17.6 in SEC play. But she is the only Tiger averaging in double figures, and Auburn is prone to scoring droughts like when they blew a double-digit lead against Tennessee.

JaMya Mingo-Young seems like she has been around forever and for every SEC team, and she can make big plays. Taylen Collins is a grad transfer from Oklahoma State who is a tough defender.

Defense is where Auburn makes its mark. The Tigers have overtaken South Carolina as the SEC’s best defense, allowing just 61.1 points in SEC games. They rank second in the SEC in steals at 10.8 per game.

“Our main priority is to take care of the ball because we know Auburn plays aggressive defense,” Paopao said. “We’ve just got to take care of the ball and play basketball.”

LSU turned it over 15 times in their loss to Auburn, leading to 20 points off turnovers. That came from 10 steals, including Scott-Grayson’s game-clinching steal from Angel Reese. Auburn managed to muck up that game and beat LSU to loose balls, a strategy South Carolina will probably see again on Thursday.

“They’re very well coached, got great athletes, got great grit. They’ve got a range of defenses and will pressure you fullcourt or in the half-court,” Staley said. “Playing them on the road will be especially hard.”

The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (19-0, 7-0) at Auburn (14-6, 3-4)
When: 8:00 ET, Thursday, February 1
Where: Auburn Arena, Auburn, AL
Watch: SEC Network+

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