After she fell down hard driving to the basket against Hampton two days ago, Aliyah Boston is listed as a game-time decision ahead of No. 1 South Carolina's game vs. No. 20 UCLA. The Gamecocks' head coach Dawn Staley spoke to reporters yesterday about the status of Boston.
“She feels a lot better than she did yesterday,” Staley said.
South Carolina has a 16-game win streak against ranked opponents. They haven't lost to a ranked opponent since Stanford took them down in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Even without Boston, South Carolina has a loaded roster that can compete with anybody.
“We're good. Everybody's ready to step up,” Staley said. “We understand what she means to our program and to lose her would be a big void. But we got a lot of bigs who can fill in in a lot of ways.”
Boston is averaging 9.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game this season. She is only playing just over 22 minutes per game this year due to South Carolina's dominance early in games. Boston is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in next year's WNBA draft.
The senior center is also in prime position to go after another national player of the year award. Boston's two-way impact is rare and she is one of the reasons South Carolina has turned itself into a perennial contender. However, even if they aren't able to have her in the lineup, they have options in the front court.
“I don't know if I'll ever have a more mature core group of young people that get it,” Staley said. “They know what's supposed to get done, and they just do it from a personal and team-wide perspective.”
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