How Liv McGill Changes Oklahoma State Offense (And Who Benefits Most)

Brining in Liv McGill through the transfer portal has the prospect of changing so many things for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on offense.

Florida guard Liv McGill. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

There has been so much talk about how center Audi Crooks changes the direction of Oklahoma State’s program. But she’s not the only one.

The Cowgirls landed the top two players in the transfer portal in the offseason. Crooks was No. 1 out of Iowa State. Guard Liv McGill was No. 2 out of Florida.

Crooks gives the Cowgirls something they haven’t before — a high-level center who is nearly an automatic bucket. But not as much as been written about McGill and what she can do for the Cowgirls offensively. By season’s end, she may have more of an impact than Crooks.

What Liv McGill Can Do for OSU’s Offense

Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Jacie Hoyt. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

McGill was an honorable mention all-America selection at Florida last year. She averaged 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game. On Monday, she was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List for the best point guard in the country.

She should fit what head coach Jacie Hoyt wants to do perfectly. Hoyt wants the Cowgirls to play at pace, and they create offense off the dribble. That should suit McGill’s skill set.

One of the priorities for Hoyt is to create offense off the pick-and-roll. So the immediate beneficiary should be Crooks. A dynamic screen game with these two players will be something to see.

McGill is 5-9 and Crooks is 6-3. The height difference is enough to create defensive mismatches and force opponents to into hard choices.

Do teams switch defenders on the screen and try to put a big on McGill and a guard on Crooks? In that scenario all McGill must do is get the ball to Crooks, who has the mismatch. Teams could try to use a help-and-replace defense with Crooks’ defender helping on McGill through the screen and then rolling back to Crooks? McGill is quick. There may not be time for that.

Or, do you ask McGill’s defender to just fight through the screen and hope for the best? None are good options.

Teams could try something else and this is where other teammates benefit. Opponents could roll a defender to McGill as she comes off the screen, one defending a Cowgirl on the opposite side of the floor. In that scenario, McGill has an open player to pass to. OSU collected shooters in the portal, including Talexa Weeter, Zoe Canfield, Nene Ndiaye, Ellie Brueggemann and holdover Stailee Heard. All benefit in that scenario.

Plus, McGill is great at driving to the basketball. She can suck in a help side defender and create a kick-out to either the opposite side of the lane to Crooks or an open shooter on the wing.

It’s endless possibilities and that’s what is so intriguing about McGill, and she has the potential to truly change this offense. Crooks will get the attention. But McGill will make it all work the way Hoyt wants.