It was the story of two teams for Gamecocks last week.
Think about how fantastic women are playing. In my mind, I am imagining the movement of the ball, the defense and the power of the stars (without being selfish or iso-heavy) by Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke.
Now, imagine the exact opposite. Voilà! You have the male squad.
They have not played as a team, they have allowed the highest score ever in the Frank Martin era against Auburn and AJ Lawson has been choosing and choosing games to play.
COVID could have been an excuse for the team’s game a few weeks ago, but that copout reached its statute of limitations.
Although the women’s game against LSU was a little bit scary after all, I have nothing but positive things to say about them. The players persevered and succeeded.
Men have to change that or, honestly, this could be Frank Martin’s last year at USC, which is something I definitely didn’t think I would write a few months ago.
Let’s go to the reconnaissance.
Player of the week: Aliyah Boston
Despite dominating for three games, his game against Georgia was the most brilliant for me.
She had a triple-double … WITH BLOCKS.
Boston became Gamecock’s first female basketball player with a triple-double, period, but she just had to add extra spice to it by having 10 in the blocking department, not assists.
If that weren’t enough, Boston had 26 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks in the win against Arkansas, becoming the first player since Candace Parker in 2006 to have 25 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in a SEC game.
It looks like there will be another # 1 choice in the WNBA Draft from Columbia this year!
Runner-up: Destanni Henderson
I am in love with the way she manages this crime.
She was handing out so many dishes this week that she might as well drop this whole basketball thing and become a waitress (I’m sorry for that pun)!
Henderson doubled up against Arkansas with 14 points and 10 assists in 46% of shots (100% of three).
In addition, it was one of the main reasons why the USC avoided an upset last Sunday at LSU.
Henderson scored 16 points and added eight assists by kicking 45% of the field.
If you have watched these games, however, much of what she does does not appear on the statistics sheet.
She pushes the attack, creates amazing looks for her teammates and simply plays smart.
Well done.
Honorable Mention: Trey Anderson
I’ll start by saying yes, I could have given it to Keyshawn Bryant, but I wanted to talk about how Anderson came out of nowhere and gave a show against Missouri.
He hit the team’s best field goal percentage, drew with the team’s best three-point percentage and scored 17 in a game where Gamecocks really looked lost from start to finish.
Anderson even made some difficult shots and made them look easy.
Besides … where was he against Auburn ?? After playing like this, does he have four minutes? Questionable decision to say the least. In an explosion too? Come on.