South Carolina News on Basketball for Women: Texas Loss, Uconn Looms, Paopao in Naismith Watchist – Fansideed

For the first time in more than two years, South Carolina’s Women’s Basketball Team has lost a conference game.

The Loss from Texas was eliminated to Gamecocks to place # 4 in the country, binding its largest rating of the survey season on November 25th.

Let’s look at three news items this week for South Carolina Women’s Basketball

As Kansas sang in “wind dust”, “nothing lasts forever except the earth and the sky.” For a while it seemed that you could add “South Carolina’s Secure” to the text, but after Sunday it was no longer the case.

At the first horns and Gamecocks meeting in January, Texas managed to do a good job of defensively against South Carolina, but it did not turn out to be because Longhorns could not hit the wide side of the Plevnya. Madison Booker fired 15.8 percent of the floor and only one Texas player, Kayla Oldher, scored in double numbers.

But the game on Sunday was in Austin and the home crowd helped Longhorns do the impossible: to wean South Carolina.

This time it was Gamecocks who had completed only one player in double figures, with Milaysia Fulwiley scoring 13 of the bench. Meanwhile, Booker led Texas with 20 points, making large buckets when they mattered the most, it still struggles with its effectiveness, but 31.8 percent at night is much better than 15.8 percent night.

The loss was the first loss of SC in South Carolina after the SEC 2022 tournament, when the team lost 64-62 to Kentucky and the first loss of the team conference on December 20, 2021, when the team lost overtime work against Missouri.

To add an insult to the injury, Texas did not even make a single 3-indulgence in the victory, going 0-for-4 from deep. There was no luck. The horns simply surpassed South Carolina, something that rarely happens.

The good news for South Carolina is that Thursday night offers a strong opportunity to bounce as the team plays host Florida. Her hoop statistics give the team a chance of 98.2 percent to win this one, and in general the team has 80 percent or a bigger chance to win each of its other conference games. It would be shocking to see Gamecocks lose another SEC game before the conference tournament.

But Gamecocks are not yet clear because Uconn is coming on Sunday, with the Huskies heading for Colombia for a big match that is not a conference.

Uconn leads the nation in a net rating, exceeding opponents with an average of 42.0 points per 100 possessions, but you also have to take into account that the team plays in the big East, so this is the games of night than a team like a South Carolina.

In fact, Gamecocks should feel pretty good in this match. Uconn has played three teams this season, ranked in the top 10 in the rating of their hoop statistics. Huskies are 0-3 in these games, including a loss on February 6 by Tennessee.

Yes, Uconn dominates teams such as Providence and St. John’s, and all 23 of the team’s victories were 11 or more points, but the defense of South Carolina is required to give Paige brackers and companies. This does not mean that South Carolina has to look past this game, but Gamecocks must be in a strong position to win the battle of the top 10 teams in the AP poll.

On Wednesday, the team of the Naismit Trophy Women’s College of Naismit Trophy of Naismit Trophy was launched and has one name in the list that should excite South Carolina fans: Point Guard Te-Hina Paopao.

Paopao is an average of 10.3 points, 2.7 assists and 1.0 thefts per match this season. These numbers may not look as impressive as some other players on the list, but Paopao shoots 37.0 percent of the deep and is the engine that nourishes this very good Gamecocks team.

Paopao joins the list of big name players like Lauren Bets of Ucla, Paige Bueckers of Uconn and Notre Dame Olivia Miles. The list of 30 players will be trimmed until 15 before the season, with these 15 names being on the John R. Wooden Women of the Year Award.

Two South Carolina players were awarded by Naismith, with A’Ja Wilson winning in 2018 and Aliyah Boston in 2022. They both continued to be # 1 in the WNBA project.

Although it is unlikely to add its name to this elite list, its inclusion shows how vital it is for the success of one of the best basketball teams in the college college.