Dawn Staley knows her team.
That’s not surprising because any great coach is expected to understand what makes her players tick and how to get them to play together.
Staley’s knowledge also extends to the numbers the Gamecocks produce. The veteran coach showed her acumen Friday when asked, “Which top team in the Southeastern Conference has the smallest difference between its overall field goal percentage and its shooting percentage in SEC games?”
“It’s probably us,” Staley said. “I would say South Carolina because, for the most part, we’re bringing back pretty much the same group that played a lot of minutes (last season) and we’re bringing back two players that shoot at a high percentage, which are our post players A’ja (Wilson) and Alaina (Coates).”
Wilson, a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward, and Coates, a 6-4 junior center, are two reasons why Staley’s team is shooting 46.7 percent from the field in all games (second in the SEC in all games) and is 46.6 percent in SEC games (first). The difference is the smallest among the six SEC teams that are shooting 44 percent or better from the field. For comparison, Vanderbilt, which leads the SEC in field goal percentage (47 percent) in all games, is shooting 40.2 (fourth) in SEC games. Kentucky, which is third in overall field goal shooting percentage (46.1), is fifth in SEC games (40.1).
Mississippi State is shooting 41.4 percent (eighth) in all games and 37.7 percent in SEC games (eighth).
No. 2 South Carolina (18-0, 6-0 SEC) will put that execution to the test at 4 p.m. today (ESPN2) when it takes on No. 10 MSU (17-3, 4-2) at Humphrey Coliseum.
Staley, a former All-American at Virginia and a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the United States women’s basketball team, is used to playing good defense. She said the differences in field goal percentages in all games and only SEC games show the defensive ability of teams in the league. She knows MSU enters today’s matchup ranked second in scoring defense overall (52.6 points per game) and fourth in SEC games (55.7).
But Staley is confident her players are going to follow a plan that has helped the program go from shooting 39 percent in 2012-13 (25-8 record) to 47.4 percent in 2013-14 (29-5) to 48.4 last season. The Gamecocks’ shooting percentage in 2014-15 was fourth best in the nation and propelled them to the Final Four.
“Our players know where they are comfortable taking shots,” Staley said. “We stay in character no matter who we are playing.”
Staley said it helps having Wilson, the 2015 SEC Freshman of the Year, and Coates patrolling the paint and collecting the bulk of missed shots. Wilson leads the team in scoring (16.6 ppg.) and is second in rebounding (9.1), while Coates is third on the team in scoring (12.5) and first in rebounding (9.6).
When you factor in two-time SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell (14.6 ppg., 31 3-pointers), guard Tina Roy (6.5 ppg., team-leading 38 3-pointers), guard Bianca Cuevas (7.6 ppg.), guard Khadijah Sessions (6.2), and forward Sarah Imovbioh (4.9), the Gamecocks have plenty of ways to beat you.
Staley said her team’s shooting percentage is where it is despite Mitchell shooting 41.3 percent, which is down from 50 percent last season. But Wilson (54.8 percent), Coates (69.5), Sessions (50.7), and Imovbioh (60.7), a transfer from Virginia, have helped pick up the slack.
Sessions might be the best story. The 5-8 senior earned Parade All-America honors after scoring 3,020 points at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) High School. Staley said she has sacrificed parts of her game to become the point guard the Gamecocks need. Her growth from a 40.1-percent shooter in 2014-15 shows how comfortable she has become in her role. In fact, Sessions has improved her field goal shooting percentage in all four seasons. She shot 35.1 percent as a freshman and 36.5 percent as a sophomore.
Staley said all of the Gamecocks’ guards have changed their mind-set and are shooting the ball more fluidly. She said she helped change the mentality of her guards by getting them to find a balance between outside shots and shots in the paint. She said the post players have responded well, too, because they understand the guards need to hit from the perimeter to open opportunities for them.
“It has worked,” Staley said. “Tina Roy is shooting the ball extremely well, and Tiffany Mitchell is coming on, with threes especially. Khadijah Sessions is a lot more confident from the outside. She understands she is going to be open and that we want to see all of the options through before we jack up shots. When the ball comes back to her, she is ready to fire it. It took her a year or two to kind of understand that concept. Now she does.”
As much attention as Wilson and Mitchell deservedly attract, Staley said Sessions often gets lost in the shuffle because her statistics might not be as gaudy as her teammates. Still, Sessions leads the team in assists (45) and steals (37).
“When you have unselfish players, coaches and teammates have a tendency not to look to you to do things you can be really good at,” Staley said. “I tell her how much I appreciate her and all of the little things she does. On any great teams, people are going to have to make sacrifices. She is the ultimate example of sacrificing some things she can be good at in the past few years for the ultimate benefit of our team. It wouldn’t work if she didn’t embrace it. … She has become the point guard we needed her to be for our team to be successful.”
Staley said her whole team has been able to stay focused on a journey that has seen it play against big crowds at every stop. South Carolina is second to Tennessee in the SEC in average attendance in all games (8,366). The Gamecocks are the only SEC team to average more than 10,000 fans at home (14,533).
Staley expects a crowd like that today against No. 10 MSU. She said the Gamecocks enjoy the challenge of taking the best hits from every team, and that they know they will need that “laser focus” to execute and to get wins down the road.
“I said very early on this team was different than what we had last year in a lot of ways, but we still (are) successful because their approach is the same,” Staley said. “They don’t get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. They take whatever task in front of them. They didn’t look ahead to the Mississippi State game. We took care of Auburn (a 74-58 victory Thursday) because that was the task in front of them. Now it is Mississippi State, so we turn the page and are not looking beyond that. I am glad I have that kind of team because in our league you can’t take anyone lightly.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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