The Daily Gamecock

USC looks to get offense flowing

Senior Ieasia Walker said USC’s offense has been stagnant and needs to get on track.
Senior Ieasia Walker said USC’s offense has been stagnant and needs to get on track.

Women’s basketball to host LSU after 42-20 loss against Georgia

Though South Carolina will be the home team against Louisiana State tonight, it will be out of its element.

The No. 19 Gamecocks will be playing in the Carolina Coliseum at 7 p.m. instead of the Colonial Life Arena due to a scheduling conflict between the arena and the SEC. Country musicians Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley will take the stage at Colonial Life while the Coliseum hosts its first official college basketball game since 2002.

Although USC didn’t initially plan for the change of scenery, it could be a welcome change after the team’s 42-40 loss at Georgia.

“Maybe if we do well enough we’ll play more games here,” senior guard Ieasia Walker said.

The Gamecocks (14-3, 2-2 SEC) are familiar with the Coliseum from practicing there in the summer and shooting there throughout the year outside of practice. Walker said she’s heard the story of the history of the building since men’s basketball had a sustained period of winning there.

Besides Walker saying the Coliseum is hotter than Colonial Life, the Gamecocks are treating tonight’s game like any other. Despite the 2-2 start to conference play, coach Dawn Staley isn’t ready to call the matchup against LSU (11-6, 2-2) a “must-win.”

“It’s a game that we would like to have,” Staley said. “We’re playing on our home court, and you’ve got to take care of home. You’ve got to take care of home because road wins are hard to come by in this league. We dropped one that we should’ve had against Georgia, but I think our future is bright.”

While returning to the Gamecocks’ old home will be nostalgic for some, the team’s offense has been forgettable in its losses to ranked SEC opponents Tennessee and Georgia, scoring 53 and 40 points, respectively. Walker said the team has been falling into long scoring droughts, and the best way to snap out of those is to drive the lane rather than settle for perimeter shots.

The challenge has been that when USC drives the lane, it’s getting fouled and its free-throw percentage is just 54 percent. Now that opposing teams have successfully defended the Gamecocks with a zone defense, Walker said USC has to be more prepared for that against upcoming competition.

“It’s really important to get back on track,” Walker said. “We’ve got to get our offense flowing. Right now, it’s been stagnant ... Our defense is our staple, but once our offense gets going, we’ll start being able to compete with the teams that are ranked.”

Staley said part of the problem with the offense is that the Gamecocks need to play in transition more than they have recently. Ideally, Staley said the team should be able to shoot more fluidly as opposed to passing the ball around in response to the zone.

With the new venue, the Gamecocks will try something new to reignite their offense, playing at a faster pace against an up-tempo LSU team. But Staley isn’t ready to change everything just because the team has struggled lately or because it’ll be on a different court.

“I think this team would play outside if we had to play outside,” Staley said. “The venue has changed, but our approach to the game hasn’t changed.”

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