South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from Gamecocks' SEC Championship-clinching win over Alabama

South Carolina Basketball vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
Thumbs Down 1: Inconsistent Rebounding

The only reason Alabama was able to keep the score within 35 points on Thursday was the rebounding battle. South Carolina outrebounded Alabama but only by 2. The Tide had an inflated number of offensive rebounds (20) because of their ridiculous number of misses (53), but the Gamecocks still allowed too high of a percentage of those misses to end up in their opponents' hands.

Missing Kamilla Cardoso certainly played a role in that as she is the top rebounder on the team. However, Alabama is a bottom half of the SEC rebounding squad, and the Gamecocks let them hold their own on the glass.

South Carolina Basketball vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
Thumbs Down 2: Less-Than-Crisp Offense

The Gamecocks are so good that their mediocre performances are better than most team's good showings. That was the case on Thursday as it felt as if Dawn Staley's team was not very crisp with the ball in their hands. Even so, USC scored 70 points in the final 35 minutes of the game while shooting under 40%.

A few ill-advised drives into traffic resulted in turnovers or blocked shots, and the passing wasn't great from Coach Staley's team. The Gamecocks also had fewer assists than turnovers and picked up assists on less than half of their made shots.

South Carolina Basketball vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
Thumbs Down 3: Sloppiness with the Ball

Turnovers are a horrible plague across women's college basketball, and the Gamecocks turn the ball over too much. However, they actually have the fewest giveaways in the conference. Their 15 turnovers against Alabama weren't good and were indicative of some sloppiness while passing and dribbling, but they were 4 fewer than the number suffered through by the Crimson Tide.