Humbled team refocuses

Dawn Staley could see the collapse against Arkansas coming.

The fourth-year South Carolina coach knew ending a 32-year drought against Tennessee a week before was a landmark victory, but it would not help the Gamecocks erase the collapses of the past two seasons.

Staley mentioned — briefly — on Wednesday that she was not happy with the way the Gamecocks prepared for the Razorbacks. Her concerns were justified as South Carolina suffered through a 23-turnover performance and lost by 21 points.

Now the Gamecocks (18-6, 7-4 SEC) must regroup with two home games — the first today against Florida (16-8, 6-5) on national television.

“The key for us right now is preparation,” Staley said. “I think we have to put the focus in and get back and prepare the way we normally practice. I think (Friday) was a day we turned the page and focused on doing the things we do best. When we do those things we’re a much better basketball team.”

Staley was not the only person that felt the Gamecocks lacked focus preparing for Arkansas.

“When we don’t practice hard — our games are based off our practices,” junior forward Ashley Bruner said. “We were turning the ball over in practice all week. Tennessee practices were great, then last week we weren’t as focused or we weren’t as disciplined, and it showed.”

The Gamecocks returned to Columbia about 1:30 a.m. Friday morning but were back on the practice court 12 hours later. Staley liked the focus.

“Arkansas beat us in every category, and it’s not a good feeling,” Staley said. “It jolted our players, and they are coming in a little differently preparing for Florida.”

If the Gamecocks hope to break free from a pack of seven teams within two games of second place in the SEC, they need to get back to playing their trademark defense and find the scoring touch that carried them during their recent four-game winning streak.

USC owns a victory over the Gators. They won 49-44 on Florida’s home floor on Jan. 8 behind 11 points each from Markeshia Grant and La’Keisha Sutton and 10 points from Aleighsa Welch. That victory snapped a five-game losing streak to the Gators.

They limited the Gators to one 3-pointer and clamped down on former Gamecock Jordan Jones, who is the Gators’ second-leading scorer but was held to six points on 2-of-9 shooting. She played as a freshman at USC before transferring after Staley took the job.

Bruner said protecting the ball against Florida’s pressure and limiting second chances points will be key. In the first meeting, the Gamecocks won the battle of the boards and had a 17-5 advantage on points off turnovers.

“We have to keep them off the boards, and we have to protect the ball because they have some quick guards,” Bruner said. We need to be consistent, disciplined and go hard every minute.”

USC follows the game today with a home game with Georgia on Thursday. There are currently six SEC teams ranked between No. 25 and No. 36 in the latest RPI standings. Staley knows protecting their home floor — where USC is 10-2 this season — will go a long way in determining their postseason destination.

“These are two games that we feel are very competitive, that we feel can go either way,” Staley said. “I like to be playing on our home court. We hopefully take care of business better than we have the last couple of years.”