South Carolina dominates paint in win over UK Hoops
February 21, 2014
By Kevin Erpenbeck
It’s a strategy that will win you most basketball games: dominate the interior, control the game. Unfortunately for UK Hoops, that’s a specialty of No. 4 University of South Carolina.
UK could not establish any presence in the paint in its 81-58 loss to the Gamecocks. South Carolina’s size helped them win the rebound battle, 44-19, making life difficult for UK on both ends of the court. Frustration mounted for the Cats every time a crimson jersey pulled down the ball.
On most nights, UK head coach Matthew Mitchell would use players like 6-foot-3 senior forward DeNesha Stallworth and 6-foot-1 senior center Samarie Walker to set up the inside game.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said their strategy was to beat UK at its own game.
“We just gave Kentucky a taste of their own medicine,” Staley said. “We wanted to keep pushing the ball and continuously get the ball in the paint. We were equally aggressive getting the ball in the paint, and it gave us good penetration.”
South Carolina junior forward Aleighsa Welch took advantage of the open paint more than any other player, muscling her way to a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double. Although losing sight of a dominant 6-foot forward seems difficult to believe, the Cats couldn’t find Welch on the glass.
Second-chance point efforts seemed to wane for UK as the game went on. The Cats had only two put-back baskets and were blocked six different times in the paint.
For Mitchell, it’s back to the drawing board, preaching a stout interior defense and emphasizing the importance of winning boards.
“We just need to work on the fundamentals and the toughness inside,” Mitchell said. “We ran into a really tough and aggressive opponent today that was active on the boards. We got whipped tonight, but we can’t let it discourage us tomorrow.”
