South Carolina women’s basketball: Five Things to Watch

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1. Bigger goals
South Carolina clinched the SEC regular season championship Thursday and commissioner Greg Sankey presented the Gamecocks with their trophy after the game. Former Gamecock Olivia Thompson, who was providing color commentary on the radio, posted a picture (that unfortunately I cannot embed) of Tessa Johnson and Chloe Kitts appearing completely unimpressed by the ceremony.

The picture was the result of fortuitous timing, but nobody is disputing the implied message: conference titles are nice, but national titles are better.

“I don’t think it has sunk in yet because we’re still focused on the natty, but it means a lot,” Johnson said on Friday. “It’s crazy because I’m only a freshman. This team, from where we started to now is unbelievable.”

2. So tired
Kamilla Cardoso missed the Alabama game due to, essentially, fatigue. She’s hardly alone, as the Gamecocks have looked tired the past few games.

“I’m not going to lie. I’m tired all the time,” Johnson confirmed. “Mentally, physically, everything, but that doesn’t really matter at this time.”

Dawn Staley has confirmed the team is tired and tried to accommodate the fatigue. But with the all-important month of March a week away, she is putting a stop to all the talk about fatigue.

“We’re trying to play our best basketball at the most important time of the season (while) being mentally and physically drained a little bit,” she said. “I probably won’t speak on it anymore. That’s not going to be a crutch. It’s not going to be something that we utilize. It is what it is.”

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3. Full strength?
Staley was noncommittal about whether Kamilla Cardoso, who missed the Alabama game for rest, would play against Kentucky. But the implication is clearly that Cardoso will play, which gets the Gamecocks closer to full strength.

There is no change in Sahnya Jah‘s status. The freshman remains suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. At the time of the suspension, Staley said there was a process for Jah to return that would be assessed day-by-day. Since her suspension, Jah has attended South Carolina’s games and watched from the student section

4. Around the SEC
It’s a technicality because South Carolina owns the tie-breaker, but South Carolina clinches sole ownership of the SEC regular season title with a win Sunday of an LSU loss at Tennessee. The winner of the LSU-Tennessee game also gets a much-needed quality win to impress the NCAA selection committee.

Elsewhere, Vanderbilt and Arkansas meet with a chance to get back to .500 in conference. Mississippi State and Alabama are both coming off losses and are looking to get back on track.

5. Scouting the Wildcats
Kentucky is – as surprising as this sounds – on a winning streak. The Wildcats have won back-to-back games and on Thursday night they scored the final 19 points of the game to beat Mississippi State.

South Carolina transfer Eniya Russell is starting to live up to her potential and scored a career-high 24 in the win over Florida.

South Carolina demolished Kentucky 98-36 back on January 15 in a game highlighted by a dunk from Ashlyn Watkins. But Kentucky is playing better now. In that game, Maddie Scherr had just nine points on 3-19 shooting, Ajae Petty managed just two points and five rebounds, and Russell had six points and four turnovers.

The WIldcats shot less than 25% from the floor and the Gamecocks shot nearly 60%.

The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (26-0, 13-0) at Kentucky (11-16, 4-9)
When: 3:00 ET, Sunday, February 25
Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
Watch: SEC Network

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