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

South Carolina looks to bounce back from its first loss of the season when it faces Louisville in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Here are five things to watch.

1. Lessons learned?

After the loss to Texas, Dawn Staley said, “I’m not upset at all at this game.” She was happy to get teachable moments on film and pleased that they nearly won.

After the Players Era Championship, UCLA and Texas got right back on the court with games on Sunday. On the other hand, South Carolina and Duke had time off to practice and study some of those teachable moments.

“We got two days (of practice) in, which was good,” Staley said. “It was really good to get some practice in.”

2. Don’t panic

Losses are so rare for the Gamecocks that when they do lose it feels like something dire has happened and changes must be made.

In fact, South Carolina lost by two points on a buzzer-beater to a top-five opponent on the second day of a back-to-back, a game where South Carolina missed 13 layups in the first half.

The Gamecocks did a lot of good things in that game. Learning from it means studying what went right as well as what went wrong.

“It’s not anything for us that’s like the sky is falling. It’s a one-possession game, and this team is still trying to find itself. This isn’t the team we’ve had for years,” Staley said. “You can’t really be upset because you can point to things. It wasn’t effort, it was more of execution of what we needed to be executed.”

South Carolina has a chance to bounce back right away with a road game against a ranked opponent. 

“It’s about the little things,” Adhel Tac said. “Those top 25 games, those games matter. Everybody is going to try to give their best, be their best. Really, for us, it’s going to be self-inflicted wounds. Last game, we didn’t have a great shooting number with missed layups or shooting free throws, that kind of thing, or hustling through the ball, those extra plays, stuff we know we can do.”

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3. Bench production

I feel like I have written about the lack of bench production every day for the last week, but when South Carolina only gets a combined two points, four rebounds, and two assists from the bench against Texas, it’s an issue.

It’s also another thing Staley isn’t going to panic over.

“It looks a lot easier than it is. We’ve got to grow and develop our bench,” Staley said. “We can’t go a whole season playing six or seven. We’ve got to be able to get to eight or nine comfortably. The only way we’re going to be able to do that is to put them out there. Whether they something down their leg or not, they’ve got to grow.”

4. Missing Makeer

Freshman Agot Makeer will not make the trip to Louisville because she is in concussion protocol.

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5. Scouting the Cardinals

For South Carolina’s first true road game of the season, Louisville is trying to stripe the KFC Yum! Center for Thursday’s game. Fans in even sections are told to wear white, while odd sections should wear black. Gamecock fans can decide what colors they choose to wear.

Efficiency is Louisville’s game. Louisville has a top-30 offense, averaging 81.2 points per game and knocking down 8.1 threes. Almost a third of Louisville’s shots come from behind the arc. 

The Cardinals rank 51st in field goal percentage (45.9%) and 42nd in three-point percentage (36.3%), but their key stat is turnovers. They turn the ball over just 11.1 times per game, the ninth-best mark in the country, and have a turnover margin of plus-6.44, 38th in the country. That will make it hard for the Gamecock to get fast-break points. 

“Just tough. They’re good at home as well,” Staley said. “They like to play a lot of different defenses, so point guard play is going to be really important.”

Sophomore guard Tajianna Roberts averages 13.3 points to lead Louisville. 

Transfer forward Laura Ziegler has been Louisville’s MVP this season. The Dane began her career at St. Joseph’s and has easily made the jump to the ACC. Zieger averages 12.7 points and team-highs of 8.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists. 

Louisville has two losses this season, falling 79-66 to UConn and 72-62 at home to Kentucky. In both games, the Cardinals were held under 40% shooting and forced their fewest turnovers of the season (seven for UConn, 12 for Kentucky).

“They’re going to challenge us to not fall asleep in transition and not fall asleep in our half-court defense,” Staley said. “We’ve got to execute from a defensive standpoint.”

The Ws

Who: #2 South Carolina (7-1) at #22 Louisville (7-2, 1-0 ACC)
When: 7:00 ET, Thursday, December 4
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
Watch: ESPN

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