Does UConn or South Carolina have more at stake on Big Monday?
Dawn Staley says No. 1 South Carolina isn’t as successful if it doesn’t have Tyasha Harris after the Gamecocks beat No. 22 Tennessee 69-48. (2:26)
UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn’t have much time to process Monday’s loss to Oregon before being asked about another big nonconference matchup: next Monday’s meeting vs. No. 1 South Carolina (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN App) in Columbia.
“Against the really, really good teams like we’ve played, every time we make a mistake, they take advantage of it,” Auriemma said. “We have to play more of a flawless game, and we haven’t. We need to be tougher; that’s the bottom line.
“[South Carolina] has never beaten us, so what do you think that atmosphere is going to be like?”
Indeed, Gamecocks fans should be in high spirits at Colonial Life Arena, hopeful of seeing top-ranked South Carolina’s first win after eight losses in the series. The first of those came in 2007, the season before Dawn Staley took over the Gamecocks. The closest South Carolina has come is 11 points: a 66-55 loss in Hartford, Connecticut, in 2017, the season when the Gamecocks won the NCAA title. In the teams’ three previous meetings in Columbia, the Huskies have won by 29, 12 and 25 points.
What can we expect in the game? ESPN.com’s Mechelle Voepel and Charlie Creme break it down.
Charlie Creme: For the first time in their regular-season meetings, the Huskies are the underdog and have more at stake. South Carolina has always been the team trying to prove itself, establish an identity and gain confidence by knocking off the best team in the land.
Not this year. The roles are reversed. After Monday’s home loss to Oregon and the January home loss to Baylor, the fourth-ranked Huskies are the team in need of a confidence-builder. This is UConn’s final chance in the regular season to play an NCAA tournament-caliber opponent. Another loss and the Huskies will head into March not knowing if they can truly compete for a spot in the Final Four.
Then there is the more tangible impact of the game. Any chance UConn has at a No. 1 seed rests with first getting a win over the Gamecocks. Another double-digit loss and the Huskies — currently a No. 2 seed — would be at risk of falling to a No. 3. South Carolina’s hold on a No. 1 seed right now is so strong that even a loss to UConn wouldn’t hurt that status. Baylor or Oregon could jump the Gamecocks for the top overall seed, but South Carolina would remain the No. 1 seed in Greenville.
Mechelle Voepel: Compared to the NCAA tournament seedings, the weekly rankings don’t mean all that much. But they tend to prompt a lot of debate. Provided that South Carolina, Baylor and Oregon are still 1-2-3 in The Associated Press poll going into Monday’s game, how might that outcome affect the rankings the following week?
If the Gamecocks lose, or win but play poorly, would Baylor take over the No. 1 spot, or would Oregon leapfrog the Lady Bears?
Baylor clobbered Kansas 97-44 on Wednesday to reach the halfway point of the Big 12 season at 9-0. The Lady Bears are working on their third consecutive perfect season in league play, and fifth overall. Going back to 2011, they have lost just seven conference games.
Meanwhile, Oregon still has four games against ranked Pac-12 teams — plus what should be another interesting league tournament — and South Carolina has three regular-season games left against ranked SEC teams, starting Thursday at Arkansas.
Creme: South Carolina’s defense is perhaps the biggest key to its offense. The Gamecocks are so good defensively that it takes pressure off the offense, especially for three freshmen in the starting lineup who know they don’t have to be perfect shooters or passers to succeed. That has bred an offensive confidence that the last few South Carolina teams haven’t had.
The Gamecocks are first in the country in blocked shots and rank in the top five defensively in points allowed per game, shooting percentage, 2-point shooting percentage, and points per play. It also helps that they are first in offensive rebound rate, which means South Carolina gets more of its own misses than anyone in the country. Those turn into plenty of high percentage second shots.
Senior point guard Tyasha Harris has brilliantly run the team with efficiency and poise. She averages a modest 12.0 points per game, but her floor game has been as consistent as it has been smooth. Sunday against Tennessee, for example, she had a poor shooting night (2-for-12) and scored only five points, but Harris had nine assists and zero turnovers and South Carolina dominated. Harris has been the key to the team’s chemistry and helped freshmen Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke quickly transition to the next level. Boston leads the Gamecocks in scoring at 13.0 PPG; Cooke is tied for second at 12.4.
Voepel: Charlie mentioned defense: The Gamecocks are holding opponents to an average of 10 fewer points this season than last. Staley was frustrated with the team’s defense last year, but she has been pleasantly surprised as to how well the team’s chemistry has developed this season, and how that has impacted the defense.
Overall, this is a South Carolina offense with more confidence. A ton of credit does go to Harris, but also to fellow senior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan. Harris was the No. 28-ranked freshman according to HoopGurlz in 2016, and Herbert Harrigan wasn’t in the top 100. But look at how good she has been: Herbert Harrigan is averaging career bests in scoring (12.4), rebounding (5.5), assists (1.4) and shooting percentage (51.2). Just what you’d want to see from a senior. Destanni Henderson, a sophomore guard who’s averaging 8.5 PPG, has also provided great support off the bench.
Creme: UConn’s confidence, as mentioned above, is a question mark right now, and that applies to Walker more than any other UConn player. In the Huskies’ three most high-profile games of the season –Baylor, Tennessee and Oregon — the junior forward combined to shoot 11-of-51 from the field (21.5%) and averaged 11.7 points per game. The frustration on her face against the Ducks was obvious. UConn can’t win high-level games with Walker struggling.
Her first 3-point attempt against Oregon rimmed out, and then Walker missed a layup a minute a half later. She never recovered, going 3-for-16 from the field and 2-for-9 on 3-pointers. South Carolina’s size and length create a difficult matchup for Walker, but if she can get a couple of early jump shots to drop, it would do wonders to changing her fortunes, something the Huskies desperately need.
Voepel: Walker’s struggles have a cascading effect on the rest of the Huskies.
If she doesn’t knock down shots, there’s more pressure on Olivia Nelson-Ododa inside, and she has had her rocky moments, too. She was 4-of-5 against the Ducks, but there were times she got the ball in the paint but opted not to challenge Oregon’s defense. If Walker is hitting shots, that frees up Nelson-Ododa more, too. Guard Christyn Williams also was pretty much shut down by Oregon, and South Carolina’s perimeter defense might present an even bigger challenge than the Ducks’ did.