South Carolina women's basketball: Transfers Ta'Niya Latson and Madina Okot needed a little grace before reaching their full potential

The background has been repeated ad nauseam, but for the unaware: by the end of last season, South Carolina knew it lacked an elite scorer and a dominant big, so the Gamecocks went into the portal and got the nation’s leading scorer and an imposing 6-6 post who was a few rebounds short of averaging a double-double.

Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot, Dawn Staley believed, were the missing pieces that could have changed the outcome on April 6 in Tampa. It took a few games – four, in fact – for Latson and Okot to live up to that billing.

That’s not to suggest South Carolina had any buyer’s remorse. Staley knew this game was coming. Everyone just needed to exercise a little patience.

“They aren’t where they used to be, and they’re not where they need to be, or where they’re going to be,” Staley said. “It really takes a lot of coaches just guiding them, showing them through film. It’s also just talking to them about what they’re feeling because it’s a lot of pressure to play for us. It’s much different than where they come from. So, some of that they have to work through.”

Latson began the year with a 20-point game against Grand Canyon, but her scoring went down each game after that. She only attempted eight shots in a 12-point game against Clemson, not nearly enough for a player with her offensive talent. 

It seemed that either Latson was being passive and trying too hard to be defferential, or her teammates were forgetting to look for her. Raven Johnson, who as point guard is most responsible for getting the ball to the right place, dismissed the growing pains.

“I think she’s being Ta’Niya Latson. She’s going to get better, and she knows what she needs to work on.”

Johnson and Latson have been best friends since high school, so she obviously wasn’t going to say anything negative. And in fairness, most players would be thrilled to be averaging 15.3 points through their first four games with a new team. 

But that was a 10-point dropoff from last season, so it was noteworthy. Staley understood, but reminded Latson that there is more to basketball than scoring.

“When you’ve led the nation in scoring, any type of drop-off is concerning to the person that has been that,” Staley said. “But I hope Ta’Niya understands that, in just a short time that she’s been with us, I think she increased her chances of being a pro because of what she’s doing on the defensive side of the ball. She’s really guarding, and she’s very efficient with us. She’s shooting over 50% from the floor.”

After the South Carolina men’s basketball team beat Radford on Tuesday night, Johnson and Latson had a private shootaround in an empty Colonial Life Arena. It wasn’t just about getting shots up, it was to help Latson clear her head.

“We were just talking about being comfortable, being confident, and I feel like both of us needed that,” she said. “Both of us needed that conversation. Playing off of each other is something that we’re really good at, so we’re just hoping that it translates every game.”

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It worked. Latson had a huge game against Winthrop, scoring 24 points on 8-11 shooting, and adding five rebounds and four assists. She drew five fouls and got to the line nine times. It was the Florida State Latson, with the spectacular drives and big buckets, and she found the balance between dominating the opponent without dominating her teammates.

“My teammates and my coaches (are) giving me grace. I know this is different, coming to a different school, learning a new system, so I’m trying to give myself grace, too. Tonight, I just wanted to play free, and I think I did that.”

“That’s what (WNBA) teams are looking for. They actually know what she can do. It is, can she play with other players? That’s one of the themes, probably, as she made the jump to come to our team. And it looks good out there at times, but psychologically, hitting that 20-point mark is… I do think it’s something for her,” Staley said. “She dumped some passes off today. So, just expanding her game in that way. And we’re talking to her about that because, obviously, it does play a psychological effect on you when you’re used to scoring a whole lot of points.”

Okot’s transition was a little smoother. She had 12 points against Grand Canyon and followed with two double-doubles. Okot only scored six points against Southern Cal, but had 15 rebounds, the most by a Gamecock since the 2024 Final Four.

But Staley kept pushing Okot to do more, to impose her will on the other team. Too often, Okot was trying to finesse her shot, stay out of the way of her new teammates. Staley wanted her to dominate.

It’s a familiar refrain in Columbia. Staley went through the same thing with Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso. The situation is so familiar that South Carolina is bringing Boston back to work with Okot and tutor her on how the become a WNBA player.

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But Staley had four years with Boston and three with Cardoso. She may only have one season with Okot. Fortunately, Okot is a quick study.

Against Winthrop, Okot tied her career high with 23 points. She made her first 10 shot attempts before missing the last two. She grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked three shots, and handed out three assists. Like Latson, she dominated the Eagles without dominating her teammates.

“That was the plan,” Okot said. “That is always the plan for each and every game. I’m happy for myself because what I’ve been working for is showing up.”

Staley wants that to be normal.

“For us, it’s not any different than how we play,” Staley said. “This is our normal. This is how we play. And it’s worked out for the other players, the other pros, that we produced. But they’re coming on nicely. They’re very coachable. It’s incredible. Like, they’re really mature about how they go about things, and they’re listeners. They want to be great.”

Latson and Okot are coachable because their goals are aligned. They came to South Carolina for the same two reasons: to win, and to improve their WNBA Draft stock. 

For Latson, that means becoming a better shooter and defender and a more efficient all-around player. Okot pointed to Boston, Cardoso, and A’ja Wilson, three Gamecock products who are among the top five, probably top four, centers in the WNBA.

When Staley wanted Latson to score more than 15 points, or a double-double from Okot wasn’t good enough, she reminded them of their goals.

“There’s a lot of critics that have a lot to say about how they’re fitting in, what they’re doing, what they’re not doing,” Staley said. “Always go back to their why: why they came here. Their ‘why’ is to put them in a better position for being pros, adding different things to what they already have, to doing the things that pros are looking for.”

The schedule was designed to help the transfers adapt. It began with some tune-up games and then the big challenge against Southern Cal. There are two more easy games to integrate what they learned in Los Angeles before a pair of big games in Las Vegas and the ensuing ACC/SEC Challenge at Louisville.

Right now, everything is on track. It just took a little patience.

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