South Carolina women's basketball: Three things we learned from the exhibitions

The preseason is over, and exhibitions against Anderson and North Carolina are in the books. What did we learn about South Carolina women’s basketball going into the season opener against Grand Canyon?

1. The defense needs work

South Carolina gave up 81 points to North Carolina despite the Tar Heels not playing their starting point guard. There were repeated rotation busts and reach-in fouls. The busts led to fouls on layups, which got South Carolina’s bigs in foul trouble.

That’s why the first thing Dawn Staley said needs to get better before Monday is defense.

“Defensively, we’ve got to be better connected than we are,” Staley said. “When we are, you’ll see the fouls cleaned up. The fouls are attributed to bad rotations and bad connection.”

The poor initial defense had a trickle-down effect. Three players finished the game with four fouls, and Staley was disappointed that many of those fouls came on plays where it was too late to get a stop. 

The Gamecocks get a long weekend to study film and figure out some of their mistakes.

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2. It will be Big Girl by committee

Joyce Edwards is still a star, and she has looked even better in the preseason than she did last season. But after Edwards, it’s going to take all three of Madina Okot, Maryam Dauda, and Adhel Tac. 

Okot starred against Anderson with 17 points and 15 rebounds, but she tried to do too much against North Carolina, which was one of the reasons she got into foul trouble. Enter Dauda, who crashed the boards and passed the ball well. 

Tac also got into early foul trouble and never found her groove.

“(Dauda) and Adhel are actually doing things that Joyce and Madina aren’t doing,” Staley said. “You need role players to play that way; distinctively different from how our starters are playing. They’re going to allow us to go deep and have the depth that we had in previous years.”

Staley has also toyed with a four-guard lineup. At one point against the Tar Heels, the Gamecocks had Maddy McDaniel, Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson, and Agot Makeer around one forward. That’s a small look, but with more teams playing four-guard lineups, it’s the same size as a lot of opponents.

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3. The Gamecocks are not a finished product

There have been a lot of little indicators that South Carolina is still figuring things out, from players cutting away from passes to the wrong player bringing the ball up to missed defensive switches.

But the good news is that you can see the players figuring out these problems in real time. 

For example, Ta’Niya Latson missed an open Tessa Johsnon a couple of times in the first half on Thursday. By the second half, they were playing off of each other beautifully. The defensive whiffs got smaller and the passes got crisper. 

“It’s about building chemistry with the players that you’re playing with,” Staley said. “That’s really hard. You need game experiences to do that.”

With its early schedule, South Carolina probably doesn’t need to get to its “A” game until Thanksgiving in Las Vegas, when it plays Duke and either UCLA or Texas. As quickly as the Gamecocks are gelling, that seems like plenty of time. 

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