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 had been a yr in the past, when the freshman guard broke out and received the SEC Event MVP. Some may say that Fulwiley hasn’t blossomed right into a star in her sophomore season the way in which that different gamers in her class have, like USC’s JuJu Watkins or Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.
However now and again, Fulwiley reminds everybody that she will do issues on the court docket that no person else can due to her jaw-dropping athleticism and slick handles. Keep 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 nicely 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 means 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 a minimum of 15 factors or extra, and it looks like it could be too tall of a job 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 take care of 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 instructed Gamecock Scoop. “Quite a lot of layups had 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 enhance I wanted.”
Fulwiley’s teammate, freshman Joyce Edwards, continues to be wowed each time she sees the guard exhibit her mixture of hops, pace, intuition and shot-making capability.
“It’s simply mind-blowing since you don’t see that on daily basis. You don’t see no person doing that,” Edwards mentioned. “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 crew 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 sport. And if the Gamecocks have hopes of repeating as SEC and nationwide champions, they’ll want Fulwiley to maintain taking part in her greatest basketball.
