Women's Basketball . November 8, 2021

Women's Hoops Opens with Top 5 Tuesday Test

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

Head coach Dawn Staley starts her 14th season at the South Carolina helm tonight. It is the Gamecocks’ 48th season of women’s basketball.
Tonight’s game marks the highest ranked opponent the Gamecocks have played in a season opener in program history. South Carolina has tipped off a season against a ranked foe five other times (3-2), including three in the Dawn Staley era (2-1).
The Gamecocks are No. 1 in both primary preseason polls for the second time in as many seasons.
South Carolina’s 10 guaranteed games against teams ranked in either the AP or Coaches poll are tied for the third-most in the country.
South Carolina returns all 11 members of its 2021 NCAA Final Four team. To that group, the Gamecocks added the No. 1 transfer of the season in Kamilla Cardoso and the No. 1 recruiting class.
Last season, South Carolina ranked fourth in the country with 47.0 rebounds per game and second in blocked shots per game (7.0).
The Gamecocks scored 41.5 points per game in the paint last season (55.1 percent of total offense). The production was as much about guards getting in the lane (20.4 ppg) as the post players (21.1 ppg).
Junior Aliyah Boston is one of the most impactful players in the game. She shapes the game beyond last season’s 13.7 ppg, 11.5 rpg (13th in NCAA), 4.1 offensive rpg (16th), 2.6 bpg (18th) and 17 double-doubles (5th). Boston’s constant communication on both sides of the ball shapes every play, and her commitment to doing the “unsung” actions in a game are just one aspect of her leadership, which prompted her teammates to vote her as one of their captains for a second season.

BY THE NUMBERS

4 – South Carolina’s non-conference schedule includes all four of the other top-five teams in the preseason polls.

11 – 11 of the 16 Gamecocks on this season’s team earned McDonald’s All-America status as a high school senior, including all four freshmen.

58.1 – South Carolina’s defense allowed just 58.1 points per game last season, including just 63.1 points per game against ranked foes.

NOTES

The NC State Series
The Wolfpack holds a 20-11 edge in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1977-78 season. The Gamecocks won the first three meetings of the Dawn Staley era, but NC State claimed the two most recent meetings.

South Carolina is 4-9 against the Wolfpack in Raleigh with its last win coming in Staley’s inaugural season at the helm – a 56-55 win on Jan. 4, 2009. The two teams last met in Raleigh on Dec. 4, 2011, with NC State erasing a four-point South Carolina lead in the final two minutes to claim a 55-53 victory.

Season Openers
South Carolina is 11-2 in season openers under head coach Dawn Staley with the two losses coming in her first three seasons at the helm. Three of those 13 season openers were against ranked opponents with one on the road. In the first. on Nov. 12, 2010, the unranked Gamecocks lost to #5 Xavier 84-65 in Columbia. The next two came against Ohio State – at home #2 South Carolina defeated the #6 Buckeyes 88-80 on Nov. 13, 2015, then a year later the #4 Gamecocks topped #7 Ohio State in Columbus 92-80 on Nov. 14, 2016.

Ranked Readings
Against ranked opponents, South Carolina is 85-66 in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09) with a 26-25 mark in those road games. Those marks are skewed by the early seasons of her tenure.

Since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the Gamecocks are 70-27 against ranked teams, including a 22-6 mark over the last two seasons..

Road Ready
The Gamecocks are 277-259 all-time in road games, including a 102-45 mark under head coach Dawn Staley. Her .694 winning percentage on the road is the best in program history.

Schedule Strength
South Carolina’s 10 games against teams in either the AP or USA Today/WBCA Preseason Top 25 rank are the third-most in the nation, trailing just Stanford (12) and Maryland (11). Michigan, Tennessee and Texas also have nine confirmed such games on their schedule. The Gamecocks have a chance to add two more games based on results in the Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 20-22).

The Gamecocks are the only team to face each of the other four teams in the preseason top five of both polls, giving them the lowest non-conference opponent ranking average in the country.

Ranking Review
The Gamecocks open the season atop both primary national polls for the second time in as many seasons.

In the AP Poll, the Gamecocks have appeared in each of the last 169 weeks, giving them the fourth-longest active streak in the nation, which dates back to Dec. 10, 2021. They have spent the last 38 of those weeks ranked in the top 10 and have been No. 1 in the poll 16 times.

In the USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Poll, South Carolina has been in the top 10 since claiming the No. 10 spot in the 2019-20 preseason poll. It has been No. 1 in this poll 12 times in the last eight seasons.