It will be simple to argue that this season has been a little bit of an inconsistent one for South Carolina guard MiLaysia Fulwiley. Most of her statistics are the identical or barely decrease than what they have been a yr in the past, when the freshman guard broke out and gained the SEC Match MVP. Some would possibly say that Fulwiley hasn’t blossomed right into a star in her sophomore season the best way that different gamers in her class have, like USC’s JuJu Watkins or Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.
However every so often, Fulwiley reminds everybody that she will do issues on the court docket that no one else can due to her jaw-dropping athleticism and slick handles. Bear in mind final season when she drew reward from Magic Johnson?
Thursday evening in Columbia, South Carolina, was one other instance that Fulwiley possesses otherworldly basketball skills.
The sixth-ranked Gamecocks bounced again emphatically from their loss on Sunday to UConn with a dominant 95-55 win over visiting Arkansas. A have a look at the field rating reveals that Fulwiley performed fairly effectively in 20 minutes off the bench, amassing 15 factors, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.
What the stat sheet doesn’t present is that this wildly spectacular play:
Sure y’all, that was an alley-oop.
And Fulwiley adopted that up by doing this throughout a quick break:
Previous two defenders, across the again, up into the ring.
What number of gamers within the nation are able to doing that within the run of play?
Fulwiley’s coach, three-time nationwide champion Daybreak Staley, interjected in the course of the sophomore’s interview on the SEC Community to explain the alley-oop play in a approach that solely she may: “Nasty work!”
Fulwiley’s highlight-worthy performs made her the star of the evening within the SEC. It’s the ninth time this season she’s scored at the very least 15 factors or extra, and it appears like it might be too tall of a activity to depend what number of occasions her playmaking abilities have been plastered on social media.
After the sport, the 5-foot-10 South Carolina native – who has an NIL cope with Steph Curry’s Curry Model – credited her mindset for her head-turning efficiency.
“I used to be very assured in comparison with how assured I’ve been up to now,” Fulwiley advised Gamecock Scoop. “Lots of layups have been falling for me, and I used to be simply excited. It made me be ok with taking extra layups, and my teammates pushed me by means of and gave me that confidence and that increase I wanted.”
Fulwiley’s teammate, freshman Joyce Edwards, continues to be wowed each time she sees the guard exhibit her mixture of hops, velocity, intuition and shot-making capacity.
“It’s simply mind-blowing since you don’t see that daily. You don’t see no one doing that,” Edwards stated. “I really feel like that’s what makes Lay particular.”
Certainly, there is just one MiLaysia Fulwiley. And due to the expertise and depth that this South Carolina staff has, Staley has the luxurious of bringing her off the bench.
Over her final 10 video games, Fulwiley is averaging 13.2 factors, 2.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals per recreation. And if the Gamecocks have hopes of repeating as SEC and nationwide champions, they’ll want Fulwiley to maintain enjoying her greatest basketball.
