Coming out of their 85-75 victory over Auburn, Missouri faces its most daunting challenge of the season: No. 1 South Carolina.
Sunday’s victory showed Missouri’s strengths and weaknesses. The Tigers opened the game with heat on the field, but cooled down in the second half. The same story happened in the second half. Strong opening races gave Missouri tracks large enough to last longer than Auburn races, but Missouri’s pitches revealed some inconsistency in the attack.
It will be an interesting meeting for Missouri scorer LaDazhia Williams. Williams, as junior guard Haley Troup, was moved from South Carolina to Missouri. This will be Williams’ first game against his former team. She will need to be at her best if the Tigers want to upset South Carolina.
In their last meeting, the Gamecocks defeated the Tigers 78-45, overtaking them by 32. It will be critical for Missouri to prevent South Carolina from repeating history on the boards. Trends this season indicate that South Carolina will have the advantage of rebounds, as Gamecocks are averaging 17.4 more rebounds than their opponents. For Tigers, Aijha Blackwell’s recovery has improved tremendously since last season. Missouri will need her and Williams to prevent Gamecocks from earning second chance points.
South Carolina is trying to recover after a 63-59 loss in overtime for second-placed UConn on Monday. The key to Thursday’s clash is simple, but difficult for Missouri to achieve. Tigers have decreased their turnover rate, but still have times when the attack is out of control.
Missouri cannot afford to have those moments against South Carolina. Gamecocks are not a tenacious defensive team that steals the ball at an elite level, but none of the teams against which the Tigers turned the ball 15 or 16 times. Missouri must stay out of its own way if it wants to be within attack distance.
Blackwell will need to break the boards and keep South Carolina’s big rebounds away from the offensive glass. With Aliyah Boston, from South Carolina, averaging 11.5 rebounds per game and four other Gamecocks averaging five or more rebounds per game, this task cannot be left behind Blackwell alone. Hayley Frank and Williams will have to work on the glass.
Tigers will also need to keep their shot efficient, which can be difficult against South Carolina. While Missouri is shooting at 49.8%, Gamecocks have held their opponents at 35.8% this season. The Tigers recently had some tough games beyond the hoop, but they got back on track against Auburn.
However, South Carolina’s opponents fared even worse in three. Missouri showed the ability to adapt to the attack, placing the ball for Williams in the painting when the three are not falling.
The Tigers maintained their balance against many qualified opponents this season, but they always lost. This clash will be the toughest in Missouri so far, and could cause a turnaround if you manage to keep the score close throughout the game.