COLUMBIA — Fresh off the first SEC loss of the season, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley took Madina Okot out of the starting lineup.
The 6-6 center still scored 17 points in the 103-74 win over No. 4 Vanderbilt on Jan. 25.
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“Madina is not the scapegoat at all,” Staley said. “It was totally giving her a look at the game. Just take a little bit of pressure off of her, because we’re putting her in situations that we have had (previous) players build to those moments.”
Freshman Agot Makeer started in Okot’s place for South Carolina for a four-guard lineup. Okot was 8-of-9 from the floor with seven rebounds and five steals, a game after she had six points in the loss to No. 16 Oklahoma on Jan. 22.
Staley said legendary South Carolina players like A’ja Wilson and Aaliyah Boston didn’t have to dominate as freshmen or in Okot’s case, in their first year with the team after transferring. Okot started for Mississippi State last year but the expectations differed.
“I know she felt better that she wasn’t in at the beginning of the game, she could see how they were playing, what they might do, get her mind ready to play,” Staley said. “Sometimes that’s all some players need is a different look at it.”
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Wilson started in her first exhibition game as a freshman in 2014 but then didn’t start in a real game until her sophomore year.
“The entire crowd anticipated (Wilson) coming in and just doing all the things that she would she would normally do if she was a starter,” Staley said. “We just kind of took a page out of that book to make sure Madina gives us something.”
Okot was 3-of-9 from the floor against Oklahoma, and had just four rebounds with three turnovers.
Okot checked in with 5:23 left in the first quarter then got a steal less than 20 seconds later. She dribbled down the court as two Vanderbilt guards caught up with her and kicked back out to Ta’Niya Latson at the 3-point line. Latson gave Okot the ball back inside and she made the layup through contact.
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“Madina played extremely well,” Latson said. “She went out there and she got back to herself.”
Latson’s short jumper with 1:30 left in the first quarter rolled out and Okot caught the rebound, kept it high in her hands and got the putback layup plus the foul.
“I feel like it was a different presence for (Okot) out there,” said guard Tessa Johnson. “That’s the Madina that we’ve been missing, and I think she really picked it up. It was good for her and the team.”
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dawn Staley explains why South Carolina’s Madina Okot didn’t start
