FORT MYERS, Fla. – Finding an offensive identity early in the season had been a problem for a South Carolina team that was seeking to bounce back after their 43-game win streak was snapped against UCLA.
After Thursday’s tilt with 15th-ranked Iowa State, progress was clearly made on that front. And in a lot of offensive situations, it was almost too easy for the Gamecocks.
Fourth-ranked South Carolina played relentless defense against the Cyclones, handling business in a 76-36 blowout at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
“We just needed to put a complete game together,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “Obviously, there were some lapses in the UCLA game that weren’t characteristic of us. We wanted to make sure that we played very similarly with our rotations, and how we would guard.”
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Florida native Chloe Kitts set the tone early, with back-to-back and-1’s off of Iowa State turnovers. That helped set up a 32-0 run that lasted just under 15 minutes, with eight different Gamecocks scoring during that stretch.
In total, nine Gamecocks logged six or more points. Freshman forward Joyce Edwards logged her first career double-double, posting 13 points and 11 rebounds on 6 of 8 shooting in 22-plus minutes off the bench. Senior forward Sania Feagin added an identical 13 points of 6 of 8 shooting, adding 5 rebounds and a pair of blocks in just 15:39 of action.
“We felt like ourselves,” Feagin said. “We just went out there and did what we had to do, play defense first, and our offense would come.”
The issues scoring offensively weren’t an issue against the Cyclones. Quick ball movement on the offensive end saw Iowa State having trouble defending and getting back against South Carolina’s quickness in transition.
“We wanted to score a third of our points in transition, because it just takes the pressure off what you have to do in the half court,” Staley said. “There was an emphasis on our post players running, getting down the floor, putting themselves in position to make an easy bucket. Or get down the floor and pancake somebody so we get them the ball. We score it, or at least, we accumulate some fouls. I thought we did that very early in the basketball game. That helped us.”
South Carolina’s transition offense resulted in a blowout in the paint, with the Gamecocks outscoring the Cyclones 42-14 inside. Te-Hina Paopao’s defense and facilitating of the offense had a lot to do with that, finishing with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and an assist at the point with just one turnover.
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“It is a privilege to coach Pao,” Staley said. “When you have three pretty darn good point guards, you can’t go wrong. Pao, Raven (Johnson), Maddy (McDaniel), they do a great job at picking up at where the other one left off. If one isn’t having that type of a game, they can see it and fill in for each other. Pao, her defense was more impressive to me than her ability to facilitate. I’ve seen her facilitate before. I’ve never seen her pick up 94 feet time and time again. When we subbed out Raven, it’s usually Raven’s job to do that.
“Pao made a concerted effort to do that in the last two days of practice for us. We’ve got affirmations, and one of her affirmations was to do a better job picking up the ball and pressuring the basketball. When you see it come to fruition, you know she’s gonna be a better basketball player. Her stock went up from a WNBA standpoint because of what she did today, picking that ball up.”
When the Cyclones slowed down the game and didn’t turn the ball over, which was a short period of time in the third quarter, South Carolina had trouble in the half court. It was a complete contrast with what happened in the first half, where Iowa State was out of sync which gave the Gamecocks easy buckets.
The Cyclones needed less than three minutes in the second half to match their point total from the first 20 minutes of action, which trimmed the deficit to 18 at 37-19.
“A lot of that had to do with our shot selection,” Staley said. “That period after halftime, was when we took some ill-advised shots that jumpstarted their offense, they got easy buckets. They saw the ball go in. With a team like Iowa State, all they need to see is the ball go in, and it gets bigger and bigger.
“We really had to clamp down. I think MiLaysia (Fulwiley) had a steal for a layup that allowed us to excel and get our equilibrium back to where we started defending a little better, started taking more calculated shots.”
A 7 of 8 stretch from the field in the second half after starting 0 for 9 ballooned the South Carolina lead back to 28 points, before the onslaught continued in the fourth quarter with the Gamecocks closing out the game hitting 10 of 16 shots from the field.
South Carolina (6-1) will aim to build off a defining win, rounding out their Thanksgiving trip to Florida with a date against Purdue on Saturday.
“From an offensive standpoint, if we can put together 40 minutes of what we did defensively, offensively, in the same game? I think we’ll be feeling really good about ourselves,” Staley said.
Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: South Carolina rebounds after loss to UCLA, dominates Iowa State 76-36
