One of the things USC has been successful at thus far this season - moreso than say last year - was that they have moved the ball around much better: the spacings are improved, the passing is improved. Kadijah Sessions has improved greatly in this regard in terms of assists and distributing the ball to players making their cuts to the basket or to players in set positions for high % shot completions. Last season Sessions' basic role as PG was to get the ball across court without losing it, then get rid of the ball to Mitchell and let her make a drive move or decide to pass the ball off to someone else.
That's why Sessions had so few assists last season, and Mitchell led the team. Sessions' primary role was as a perimeter defender, which she is above solid at. But thus far this season she had improved greatly in the ball distribution/offense quarterbacking role to the extent that prior to the Duke game she led the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio, and USC as a team led as well (both Sessions and USC are currently 3rd nationally). USC has averaged 20+ assists per game coming into the Duke game, which was good for 4th nationally (they are now 6th), compared to under 15 assists per gm last season, good for 89th.
But Duke's height and post-zone defense first off cut off inlet passes into the Gamecock big girls, and then the guards didn't try to penetrate/drive into the zone as much as they have done against previous opponents' zones. Or maybe Duke did a better job of defending against that. So USC was devolved (especially moreso the 1st half) into becoming more of what they were last season: just pass the ball around the perimeter to players standing still mostly, waiting for the shot clock to wind down, until someone takes a hurried jump-shot. Our own defense kept Duke from capitalizing on the stunted offense of USC and jumping out to a sizable lead, so things never got totally desperate. But that explains the horrible first half showing.
We came out in the 2nd half with more resolve to run our offense, and even our perimeter/transition defense ramped up forcing a few early turnovers, and USC jumped to a 7-0 scoring run to start the half. It changed the tempo of the game and put Duke on the defensive a bit. USC had improved team motion in the 2nd half and took better shots, plus Williams getting 4 fouls helped as well. USC played more of the effective offense they expected to play for the whole game.
So IMO the 1st half was an unexpected speed-bump that was caused by Duke's great height: one that USC can use to learn from and try to see that it doesn't happen again. Other opponents will certainly continue to use the zone against USC - even UConn - but likely won't have the same size to offer that Duke did. USC just needs to continue to move and drive into the zone to develop better passing lanes to their bigs, to get them involved. We'll be alright.....
