South Carolina women's basketball: How both teams stack up in the rematch with UCLA
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South Carolina and UCLA faced off earlier this season in Columbia. That game, on November 29, was tied going into the fourth quarter before South Carolina pulled away for a 73-64 win.
I asked coaches and players how each team has changed in the almost four months since that game.
How has South Carolina changed?
Cori Close: “I think we’re both better. I just think the reality — their numbers numerically, they were really good then and they’re really good now. Their defensive numbers and rebounding numbers are remarkable. They get 48 percent of their offensive misses. The amount of second opportunities. Then the way they capitalize in transition off of any of your mistakes. I think this is not a complicated game plan for us, this is just a hard one to execute because they’re so good at what they do.”
Kiki Rice: “South Carolina, obviously, they’ve gotten better throughout the season, still undefeated. I think they’ve improved defensively and they’ve improved their zone offense.”
Emily Bessoir: “South Carolina, obviously they’re a really good team, and they just use their weapons really well, and I think they’ve just expanded on that.”
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Aliyah Boston: “It’s good that we’ve gotten to get a feel of their basketball. But at the same time, we played each other very early on in the season where we’re both probably figuring out what we’re good at, what we’re not so good at, how we want to play them. I mean, you get a good feel, but it’s still probably going to feel a lot different than when we stepped on the court the first time.”
Kierra Fletcher: “For starters me and Raven (Johnson) were both on minutes restrictions, so I think that plays a lot into it. Now we’re full go, everyone is healthy and we’re more gelled together than what we were in November. We’re a much better team, playing more cohesively.”
Laeticia Amihere: “We have a lot more experience, obviously, under our belt. We know what to expect. We able to watch the UCLA film from back then and see what we need to work on. Definitely a more experienced team and we’ll come in with a different mindset.”
Kamilla Cardoso: “We’re a better team because we watched the game and we’ve seen the mistakes that we made so we’re able to adjust.”
How has UCLA changed?
Cori Close: “I think we are a better, more fluid team offensively. We are much more efficient and productive offensively than we were back then, and they are just as dominant in defense and rebounding. I think it’s going to be our improvement on the offensive end, and then how we can adjust to their switches. That really hurt us in the fourth quarter of our first game, and so I think if they choose to do it, to play that way again, our ability to grow through that and understand what our looks are with our group. But I really do think it’s going to come down to can we get quality shots and be able to set our defense so that they’re not able to get rebounds and get out in transition. And especially limiting live ball turnovers will be essential.”
Kiki Rice: “I think we’ve improved tremendously. That was only our eighth game of the season. We’re a really young team so we were still finding our identity, learning what each one of us does best.”
Emily Bessoir: “I think since November we’ve really grown together as a team. Kind of just recognizing all of our strengths and like individual tendencies and all of that and just really coming together.”
Gina Conti: “Really being able to play together and see what that’s been like. We had a whole conference season before this and then also a Pac-12 tournament and now March Madness. Really being able to see what our tendencies are and locking into what our anchor is and that’s defense. So building our defense and playing together.”
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Lina Sontag: “I would add that we’ve really worked on details on offense and defense, like getting all those small details down.”
Dawn Staley: “If I had us on the ropes like they had us on the ropes, I would actually take some things that were pretty good and probably try to stick with those things that were good for us.
But we’ll probably see the sagging, probably see the 32, maybe they’ll press us a little bit because I’ve seen them press. Much like us, they’re going to probably throw it all out there because at this stage of the game, it is do what you need to do to get a victory.”
Kierra Fletcher: “They’re playing extremely well. They move the ball a lot, they cut off the ball well, and they play well with each other. We have to make sure we stay engaged.”
Laeticia Amihere: “They’re more experienced. Their guards are doing an amazing job. We’ve got to stop them and we’ve got to make sure that we’re disciplined and building on the mistakes that we made.”
Kamilla Cardoso: “I’m pretty sure they are a much better team.”
