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tBBC WBB Pregame Glance: South Carolina
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
(photo courtesy of 97.1TheFan)
Ohio State will open regular season play by traveling to Columbia, SC to play the #2 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday. This should be an intriguing match-up between the Gamecocks and the #6 ranked Buckeyes. First, to have two Top Ten teams meeting in their regular season opener is exciting, we get to see high quality basketball and not have to wait until January. The Gamecocks came within seconds, and one point, of advancing to the NCAA Finals last season.
The Buckeyes finished last season with a record of 24-11, 13-5. The Gamecocks ended last season with a record of 34-3, 15-1 and a Final Four appearance. One common item for these teams from last season is … North Carolina. The Tarheels edged the Buckeyes 86-84 in the NCAA 2nd round. Four days later, the Gamecocks edged the Tarheels 67-65.
South Carolina Gamecocks:
South Carolina enters this game as a Final Four team from last season. Although their offense is fairly good, their defense wins the games for them; they allow their opponents to convert only 35% of their FG attempts. Whether they can muffle OSU’s potent offense is a question. Last season, the Gamecocks created 315 steals (compared to 273 for OSU), which indicates they will ball-hawk an opponent and be disruptive to an opponent running their offense with any flow.
Coach Dawn Staley will run a 3G/1C/2F lineup. They are: 5’11” G Tina Roy (4.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.2 apg), 5’9″ G Tiffany Mitchell (14.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.9 apg), 5’8″ G Khadijah Sessions (4.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg,2.8 apg), 6’4″C Alaina Coats (11.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and 6’2″ F Sarah Imovbioh (12.6 ppg, 10.8 rpg). Note: statistics are from 2014-2015 season.
Here are the South Carolina Gamecocks, likely starters in italics:
NO NAME POS Yr GP GS Min/Game FG% 3FG% FT% RebAvg Asst/G PPG
0 Shay Colley G FR
1 Bianca Cuevas G SO 37 0 14.5 37.6% 22.2% 77.6% 1.3 1.7 5.6
3 Kaydra Duckett G SO 20 0 2.6 7.7% 0.0% 50.0% 0.6 0.0 0.2
4 Doniyah Cliney G FR
5 Khadijah Sessions G SR 37 36 22.0 40.1% 31.3% 52.9% 2.4 2.8 4.5
15 Tiffany Davis G JR 16 0 5.3 37.5% 38.5% 66.7% 1.1 0.5 1.4
22 A’ja Wilson F SO 37 1 19.8 53.8% 33.3% 66.2% 6.6 1.0 13.1
23 Tina Roy G SR 36 0 15.8 38.8% 38.7% 40.0% 1.9 2.2 4.6
24 Sarah Imovbioh F SR 58.4% 10.8 12.6
25 Tiffany Mitchell G SR 37 37 29.9 50.0% 41.6% 83.8% 3.1 2.9 14.4
31 Asia Dozier G SR 37 30 16.6 41.4% 33.3% 76.9% 1.0 1.8 4.0
40 Jatarie White F SO 20 0 9.2 40.8% 0.0% 64.3% 2.2 0.3 2.5
41 Alaina Coates C JR 36 5 21.1 56.2% 0.0% 69.6% 7.9 0.8 11.1
44 India Farmer F JR 16 0 2.3 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 0.5 0.0 0.3
Ohio State Buckeyes:
The first thing you’ll notice from last season’s box score (below) is a lot of blank “boxes” where game stats would appear. That’s because of an influx of new players (Ekhelar, Mavunga, Pugh) and players returning from season-ending injury (C.Mitchell, Beach, Holland, Waterman).
Coach McGuff will run his 3G/2F lineup. The projected starters will be; 5’8″ G Cait Craft (7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2 apg), 5’9″ G Ameryst Alston (19.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.0 apg), 5’8″ G Kelsey Mitchell (24.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.2 apg), 6’3″ F Alexa Hart (12.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and 6’2″ F Shayla Cooper (10.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg). Note: statistics are from 2014-2015 season.
In last week’s “scrimmage” against Ursuline College, McGuff played 9 players for at least 10 minutes, with 7 players scoring in double digits. Granted, it was an exhibition game, but it was good to see so many Buckeyes take the floor and do well while doing it.
Here are your Ohio State Buckeyes, likely starters in italics:
Nbr Player Pos Yr Min/G FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
3 Kelsey Mitchell G SO 37.1 41.5% 37.8% 83.5% 4.2 4.2 24.9
14 Ameryst Alston G SR 37.7 45.0% 35.6% 83.2% 4.8 4.2 19.8
22 Alexa Hart F SO 30.3 62.7% 0.0% 45.6% 8.9 4.2 12.2
32 Shayla Cooper F JR 26.0 47.7% 38.1% 69.0% 7.8 4.2 10.7
13 Cait Craft G SR 34.0 32.1% 31.4% 74.0% 4.0 4.2 7.6
20 Asia Doss G SO 29.1 30.6% 23.2% 68.4% 3.7 4.2 5.4
1 Kalpana Beach F RS JR 19.6 45.2% 0.0% 55.6% 5.1 4.2 4.7
21 Lisa Blair C RS JR 9.2 53.4% 0.0% 42.3% 3.0 4.2 2.1
0 Kaylan Pugh G FR
4 Sierra Calhoun G SO
5 Chelsea Mitchell F RS FR
10 Stephanie Mavunga F JR
12 Kianna Holland G RS FR
24 Makayla Waterman F RS FR
34 Theresa Ekhelar C FR
Wrap Up:
We have two Top-10 teams, so this should be a close, well played game. Both teams ended their seasons playing fairly good basketball. The new wrinkle for the Buckeyes is that Coach McGuff will actually have a full, deep roster at his disposal; quite a change from playing shorthanded last season.
Both teams scored proficiently last season; Ohio State averaging 81 points per game and South Carolina 76. The big difference was in scoring defense. The Gamecocks allowed 54 points per game, that’s pretty good. The Buckeyes allowed 72 , that’s not very good. Hopefully, the depth of this year’s team will allow McGuff a player rotation that should keep “fresh legs” on the floor for the entire game.
How will this game end up? I have no idea. However, I do know that there will be two talented, dynamic teams on the floor Friday evening and there will be a high level of basketball played.
You can catch the game Friday at 7:00 PM Eastern from Colonial Life Arena. Television coverage is on SEC Network, or you can follow on Gametracker.
The post tBBC WBB Pregame Glance: South Carolina appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
(photo courtesy of 97.1TheFan)
Ohio State will open regular season play by traveling to Columbia, SC to play the #2 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday. This should be an intriguing match-up between the Gamecocks and the #6 ranked Buckeyes. First, to have two Top Ten teams meeting in their regular season opener is exciting, we get to see high quality basketball and not have to wait until January. The Gamecocks came within seconds, and one point, of advancing to the NCAA Finals last season.
The Buckeyes finished last season with a record of 24-11, 13-5. The Gamecocks ended last season with a record of 34-3, 15-1 and a Final Four appearance. One common item for these teams from last season is … North Carolina. The Tarheels edged the Buckeyes 86-84 in the NCAA 2nd round. Four days later, the Gamecocks edged the Tarheels 67-65.
South Carolina Gamecocks:
South Carolina enters this game as a Final Four team from last season. Although their offense is fairly good, their defense wins the games for them; they allow their opponents to convert only 35% of their FG attempts. Whether they can muffle OSU’s potent offense is a question. Last season, the Gamecocks created 315 steals (compared to 273 for OSU), which indicates they will ball-hawk an opponent and be disruptive to an opponent running their offense with any flow.
Coach Dawn Staley will run a 3G/1C/2F lineup. They are: 5’11” G Tina Roy (4.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.2 apg), 5’9″ G Tiffany Mitchell (14.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.9 apg), 5’8″ G Khadijah Sessions (4.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg,2.8 apg), 6’4″C Alaina Coats (11.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and 6’2″ F Sarah Imovbioh (12.6 ppg, 10.8 rpg). Note: statistics are from 2014-2015 season.
Here are the South Carolina Gamecocks, likely starters in italics:
NO NAME POS Yr GP GS Min/Game FG% 3FG% FT% RebAvg Asst/G PPG
0 Shay Colley G FR
1 Bianca Cuevas G SO 37 0 14.5 37.6% 22.2% 77.6% 1.3 1.7 5.6
3 Kaydra Duckett G SO 20 0 2.6 7.7% 0.0% 50.0% 0.6 0.0 0.2
4 Doniyah Cliney G FR
5 Khadijah Sessions G SR 37 36 22.0 40.1% 31.3% 52.9% 2.4 2.8 4.5
15 Tiffany Davis G JR 16 0 5.3 37.5% 38.5% 66.7% 1.1 0.5 1.4
22 A’ja Wilson F SO 37 1 19.8 53.8% 33.3% 66.2% 6.6 1.0 13.1
23 Tina Roy G SR 36 0 15.8 38.8% 38.7% 40.0% 1.9 2.2 4.6
24 Sarah Imovbioh F SR 58.4% 10.8 12.6
25 Tiffany Mitchell G SR 37 37 29.9 50.0% 41.6% 83.8% 3.1 2.9 14.4
31 Asia Dozier G SR 37 30 16.6 41.4% 33.3% 76.9% 1.0 1.8 4.0
40 Jatarie White F SO 20 0 9.2 40.8% 0.0% 64.3% 2.2 0.3 2.5
41 Alaina Coates C JR 36 5 21.1 56.2% 0.0% 69.6% 7.9 0.8 11.1
44 India Farmer F JR 16 0 2.3 0.0% 0.0% 66.7% 0.5 0.0 0.3
Ohio State Buckeyes:
The first thing you’ll notice from last season’s box score (below) is a lot of blank “boxes” where game stats would appear. That’s because of an influx of new players (Ekhelar, Mavunga, Pugh) and players returning from season-ending injury (C.Mitchell, Beach, Holland, Waterman).
Coach McGuff will run his 3G/2F lineup. The projected starters will be; 5’8″ G Cait Craft (7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2 apg), 5’9″ G Ameryst Alston (19.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.0 apg), 5’8″ G Kelsey Mitchell (24.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.2 apg), 6’3″ F Alexa Hart (12.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and 6’2″ F Shayla Cooper (10.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg). Note: statistics are from 2014-2015 season.
In last week’s “scrimmage” against Ursuline College, McGuff played 9 players for at least 10 minutes, with 7 players scoring in double digits. Granted, it was an exhibition game, but it was good to see so many Buckeyes take the floor and do well while doing it.
Here are your Ohio State Buckeyes, likely starters in italics:
Nbr Player Pos Yr Min/G FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
3 Kelsey Mitchell G SO 37.1 41.5% 37.8% 83.5% 4.2 4.2 24.9
14 Ameryst Alston G SR 37.7 45.0% 35.6% 83.2% 4.8 4.2 19.8
22 Alexa Hart F SO 30.3 62.7% 0.0% 45.6% 8.9 4.2 12.2
32 Shayla Cooper F JR 26.0 47.7% 38.1% 69.0% 7.8 4.2 10.7
13 Cait Craft G SR 34.0 32.1% 31.4% 74.0% 4.0 4.2 7.6
20 Asia Doss G SO 29.1 30.6% 23.2% 68.4% 3.7 4.2 5.4
1 Kalpana Beach F RS JR 19.6 45.2% 0.0% 55.6% 5.1 4.2 4.7
21 Lisa Blair C RS JR 9.2 53.4% 0.0% 42.3% 3.0 4.2 2.1
0 Kaylan Pugh G FR
4 Sierra Calhoun G SO
5 Chelsea Mitchell F RS FR
10 Stephanie Mavunga F JR
12 Kianna Holland G RS FR
24 Makayla Waterman F RS FR
34 Theresa Ekhelar C FR
Wrap Up:
We have two Top-10 teams, so this should be a close, well played game. Both teams ended their seasons playing fairly good basketball. The new wrinkle for the Buckeyes is that Coach McGuff will actually have a full, deep roster at his disposal; quite a change from playing shorthanded last season.
Both teams scored proficiently last season; Ohio State averaging 81 points per game and South Carolina 76. The big difference was in scoring defense. The Gamecocks allowed 54 points per game, that’s pretty good. The Buckeyes allowed 72 , that’s not very good. Hopefully, the depth of this year’s team will allow McGuff a player rotation that should keep “fresh legs” on the floor for the entire game.
How will this game end up? I have no idea. However, I do know that there will be two talented, dynamic teams on the floor Friday evening and there will be a high level of basketball played.
You can catch the game Friday at 7:00 PM Eastern from Colonial Life Arena. Television coverage is on SEC Network, or you can follow on Gametracker.
The post tBBC WBB Pregame Glance: South Carolina appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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