Dawn Staley talked a lot about how fast this game will be.
“The pace has to be at a point where we put UConn back on their heels,” said second-placed South Carolina coach of the South Carolina women’s basketball team. “They are going to put us on our heels. We have to give that back to them and not be a half-court team against UConn.
“We have to find some easy transition buckets and we have to speed up the pace.”
South Carolina (15-1), 11th in the country with an average of 82.4 points per game, travels to face No. 3 UConn (13-1), fourth in the country with 87.1 points per game, at the Gampel Pavilion starting at 7 pm Monday (FS1), which is the main clash of the UConn season so far.
South Carolina, which finished first in the national ranking last year, surpassed UConn 70-52 a year ago in Columbia, South Carolina, keeping UConn 1 to 16 pitches in the first quarter for a total of two points. It was the Gamecocks’ first victory in the series.
South Carolina averages 20.3 break points per game, while keeping opponents at just 7.7 per game.
Now is the time for UConn, with seven freshmen on his list, to use the experience he has gained so far this season – particularly a 90-87 loss to Arkansas-oriented guard No. 19 on January 28 – in preparation for an early race against South Carolina.
“I think it’s a big challenge, just like the Arkansas guards were,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. “We will have to do better, obviously, than in the Arkansas game. We didn’t do a good job of defending them both in the dribble that goes into the basket and in the 3-point line, so we have to do a better job with at least one of those things (Monday) if we want a chance to win.
“So you add the fact that they have a great internal game. This is probably the biggest test that our defense will face throughout the season so far.”
Inland, the clash will be between South Carolina, who is six feet tall, Aliyah Boston, a unanimous All-American from the Associated Press pre-season who averages 13.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, and junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa UConn 6-5 (13.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg), which occupies the fourth national place in percentage of field goals.
Boston and Nelson-Ododa were each one of the 10 nominees recently nominated for the Lisa Leslie Award, which goes to the main center of the country.
South Carolina is led in scoring by second-year guard Zia Cooke, with 16.2 points per game, one of three second-year holders for Gamecocks. UConn continues to be led by freshman Paige Bueckers, who averages 20.4 points per game and has a series of four consecutive games with 20 or more points.
Bueckers, whom Staley called “a generational player in her own right” in a pre-game videoconference, scored 30 in Friday’s 87-58 victory over Marquette on Friday.
“She is incredibly efficient. She does the right basketball game. That’s what makes her special,” said Staley of Bueckers. “I just hope that someone will be able to turn it into something it hasn’t been through all season, which is not very efficient. It’s a difficult task.”
Staley said he doesn’t think this South Carolina team will be as intimidated to play against UConn as some have been in the past – “I think these players are a little bit different because they just go out and play,” said Staley.
Then again, this group never touched UConn on the road.
“They didn’t really go to Gampel and they didn’t see those 11 national championship tracks hanging,” said Staley. “That’s why shooting around is so important. You have to get in there, feel that space, start looking around. So, during the game, you’ve seen it, so you can focus on the task at hand.”
Staley added: “I think it’s a little less pressure (than last year, never having defeated UConn before). At the same time, I say this, I feel the pressure of really having to do it again.”
South Carolina’s only defeat of the season was against No. 4 in the state of North Carolina, 54-46 on December 3.
UConn, meanwhile, continues to take advantage of its loss to Arkansas. Auriemma was impressed with Friday’s victory at Marquette, especially in defense, where the Huskies kept the Golden Eagles considerably below the season’s average of 74.3 points per game.
“I think the more games we play, the better the pace we are going to get into and it certainly looks like it was like that last week,” said Auriemma.
Juniors Christyn Williams (16.8), Nelson-Ododa and Evina Westbrook (11.3) are averaging double digits for the Huskies, while Auriemma continues to praise the freshmen and the fire they bring.
“(We have to) continue with Marquette’s mindset, but also take her to another level,” said Nelson-Ododa on Sunday, asking what it takes to beat South Carolina. “They will definitely be one of the toughest teams that we face this season. We’ll definitely have to go with that mentality, but we know it’s going to be a battle, so we’ll definitely have to face that occasion. Just start like this and start from the beginning. ”