It might 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 12 months in the past, when the freshman guard broke out and received the SEC Match MVP. Some may 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 once in a while, Fulwiley reminds everybody that she will be able to do issues on the courtroom 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 night time in Columbia, South Carolina, was one other instance that Fulwiley possesses otherworldly basketball abilities.
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 properly in 20 minutes off the bench, accumulating 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 through 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 night time within the SEC. It’s the ninth time this season she’s scored no less than 15 factors or extra, and it looks like it might be too tall of a job to rely what number of instances 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 prior to now,” Fulwiley advised Gamecock Scoop. “Numerous 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 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 showcase her mixture of hops, pace, intuition and shot-making potential.
“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 workforce has, Staley has the posh 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 finest basketball.
