Welcome to "One Play!" where TSN staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal their bigger meaning.
Today, South Carolina star Aliyah Boston takes the spotlight.
Context: Aliyah Boston is one of college basketball's brightest stars. The 6-4 junior has been dominant all season, averaging a career-high 16.8 points, 12.0 rebounds while shooting an efficient 54.5 percent from the field. She had 25 double-doubles on the season, second only to DePaul's Aneesah Morrow. There aren't many people who will argue that Boston isn't the National Player of the Year.
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Boston's scoring and rebounding will jump off the screen when you watch her play, but an underrated part of her game as been her improvement as a passer this season.
With that said, let's head to the film room.
The play:
Breakdown:
With the shot clock quickly becoming a potential issue, Boston establishes herself, sealing her defender at the free-throw line.
No. 10 Kamilla Cardoso was calling for the post-up opportunity, but when the rock doesn't come her way she turns and seals her defender as Boston catches the ball.
The 6-7 Cardoso gives Boston a target, and she wastes no time in delivering a pass that's right on the money.
The result? A point-blank opportunity at the rim for Cardoso, which she finishes. With the contact from her defender, she probably should've been at the line for an and-1 opportunity.
Why it matters: All season long, Boston and Cardoso have worked the high-low game to perfection, taking advantage of their size and punishing mismatches. Boston's unselfishness has allowed Cardoso to thrive in those situations.
And while Boston can score herself on pretty much every defender, she's beginning to unlock her playmaking ability that will make her even more of a terror to game-plan against.
Watch this play against Tennessee earlier in the year as an example. Boston catches the ball at the high post, looks inside and sees that Cardoso doesn't have her defender compromised, takes her time and finds a wide-open — and I mean wide-open — Brea Beal for a corner triple.
One of the best things Boston can continue to do for South Carolina is grow as a playmaker. And while her assist numbers don't jump off the page, the advanced stats show some growth in that area. According to Her Hoop Stats, in Boston's freshman year she had an assists rate of 8.0, ranking her in the 28th percentile. This season, that number has shot up to 16.3, ranking her in the 73rd percentile.
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As the focal point of the offense, Boston will always be able to get hers, but if she's able to keep her teams involved and continue to grow as a playmaker, there won't be much opposing defenses will be able to do.
“She was pretty darn good her freshman season and I knew what I was getting in her as a basketball player,” Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley told Sports Illustrated in February. “But her work ethic paved the way for her success on the court. It was built on the work she puts in behind closed doors.”
Guard her one-on-one, she'll go to work.
Send a double or triple team? She'll find an open teammate.
Aliyah Boston is already a headache to defend. If she continues to improve as a passer, she'll be a nightmare.