The Daily Gamecock

Gamecocks' new offense thriving after Coates injury

South Carolina's Alaina Coates (41) gets the rebound and attempts the put back in the second half, but gets fouled by CSU Northridge's Camille Mahlknecht during the first round of the women's NCAA Tournament in Seattle on Sunday, March 23, 2014. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/MCT)
South Carolina's Alaina Coates (41) gets the rebound and attempts the put back in the second half, but gets fouled by CSU Northridge's Camille Mahlknecht during the first round of the women's NCAA Tournament in Seattle on Sunday, March 23, 2014. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/MCT)

When the South Carolina locker room opened Thursday, there wasn’t the usual crowd around the Gamecocks’ All-American center. She wasn’t there.

Alaina Coates won’t play Friday against Stanford, just like she hasn’t in South Carolina’s last five games, dating back to the SEC Championship. Losing a double-double machine is tough for any team, regardless of talent, but the Gamecocks haven’t missed a beat, even with an All-American watching from home.

Dawn Staley brought in a top frontcourt recruit this season in freshman Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, but it hasn’t been the Florida native who's rejuvenated the South Carolina offense in Coates’ absence.

Staley has turned to a more athletic lineup, spreading the floor with four guards surrounding A'ja Wilson, a sharp contrast from the usual high-low game that few teams can counter.

The shift has sparked a rebirth of Kaela Davis’ offensive game, as the 6-foot-2 guard has scored at least 20 points in four of the team’s last six contests. The absence of Coates has opened up plenty of space for Davis and Allisha Gray to get into the lane.

“I think it's just been attacking the paint, being aggressive, not just settling for jump shots,” Davis said when asked about how her game has changed.

Luckily for the Gamecocks, they got a chance to run a small lineup during the SEC schedule, as Wilson missed a pair of games in January, forcing Staley’s hand.

“Once A'ja Wilson went down for a two-week period, we went to a smaller lineup, which helped us,” Staley said. “When Coates went down, we just adjusted. We perfected the offense that worked for us.”

Without Coates, South Carolina will likely use just seven players in the rotation against Stanford, with Wilson and Herbert Harrigan being the only available forwards. There’s still plenty of options for Staley though, as she can play the bigs together, or turn to some of the most skilled guards in the country.

“I think we have the best of both worlds in that if you take one thing away, we have some other things that we can rely on because we have the talent to do so,” Staley said.

This isn’t the South Carolina team we’ve seen in previous years that was known for its trademark defense. These Gamecocks can light it up, outscoring opponents by an average of 20 points per game. Even without Coates, the Gamecocks have three starters who average over 12 points per game, and Cuevas-Moore has shown potential to go off at any time.

Staley stressed Thursday that her offensive philosophy is solely based on personnel, rather than a particular system, as is the case at other top programs.

“We’re a team that relies on putting the ball on the floor, ball screen action and some passing,” Staley said.

When she puts it that way, it’s pretty simple. The Gamecocks have an All-American on the block in Wilson, and she’s surrounded by former All-ACC guards in Davis and Gray, a sparkplug point guard in Cuevas-Moore and an SEC All-Freshman in Tyasha Harris.

Why do anything too complicated?


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