Gamecocks to Wrap Pre-Holiday Schedule at BGSU

No. 1/1 South Carolina will wrap up its pre-holiday schedule Tuesday night at Bowling Green, facing first-year head coach Fred Chmiel, who was on the Gamecocks’ staff for eight seasons prior to taking the job at BGSU in the offseason.

The Bowling Green Series
The Gamecocks have faced the Falcons just once before in women’s basketball, posting a 93-50 win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Mar. 14, 1990. South Carolina was the No. 5 seed in the Mideast Region and hosted the first-round game, eventually advancing to the Sweet 16 that season.

By the Numbers
7.2 – The Gamecocks are making 7.2 3-pointers per game this season, a high in the Staley era.

19.3 – South Carolina averages 19.3 second-chance points per game this season.

+28.6 – The Gamecocks are outscoring opponents in the paint by 28.6 points per game.

Gamecock Notables

• South Carolina’s bench averages 36.5 points per game on 55.0 percent shooting, accounting for 39.5 percent of the Gamecocks’ offense. The six-woman group has pulled down 18.4 of the team’s NCAA-best 51.4 rebounds per game.

• The Gamecocks’ NCAA-best 10.3 blocks per game are a full team effort, but the SEC’s top two shot blockers – Kamilla Cardoso (3.5, 4th in NCAA) and Ashlyn Watkins (3.0, 6th in NCAA) – have done a lion’s share of the work. The two combined for 13 of the team’s program-record tying 17 blocks against Presbyterian on Saturday.

• A Gamecock has picked up SEC Player of the Week honors three times through the season’s first five weeks – Kamilla Cardoso (Nov. 14), Raven Johnson (Nov. 21), Te-Hina Paopao (Dec. 12).

• National Player of the Year candidate Kamilla Cardoso has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and is 17th in the nation in field goal percentage, hitting an SEC-best 62.0 percent. She has five double-doubles in the Gamecocks’ 10 games.

• Sophomore Chloe Kitts earned a starting job in the season opener and has been improving by the game to hold onto it. Over the last five games, Kitts is the team’s third-highest scorer at 10.8 per games to go with 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

• Senior Te-Hina Paopao’s leadership goes beyond her stats to how she manages each game and her role in it. Her combination of outside shooting and court vision have her averaging 12.3 points and her teammates averaging 9.2 points off her assists, meaning her hands are on 21.6 points per game (22.9 percent of the total offense).

• Freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley has made an immediate impact as she averages 12.7 points, 3.1 assists and 1.5 blocks while playing just 18.9 minutes per game.

Road Ready
The Gamecocks are 301-260 (.537) all-time in road games (some records prior to 1976-77 did not include location of games), including a 126-46 mark (.733) under head coach Dawn Staley.  Her .733 winning percentage on the road is the best in program history.

Ranking Review
South Carolina sits atop both national polls again this week. It marks the 69th time the Gamecocks have been No. 1 in the AP Poll – the fourth-most of any program in that poll’s history.

The Gamecocks have the longest active streak of weeks in the AP Top 10 at 82, beginning with the 2019-20 preseason poll. Their 213 straight appearances in the AP Poll, dating back to Dec. 10, 2012, marks the second-longest active streak in the nation and the 11th longest all-time (trailing just La. Tech 214 to make it into the top 10).

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.

Dime Droppers
There are few things head coach Dawn Staley likes more than the extra pass. Long preaching that the ball will find who should shoot it, she has seen this year’s team bring that philosophy to life. The Gamecocks twice broke the program’s Staley-era record for single-game assists in the first three games of the season.

South Carolina has assisted on 58.6 percent of its made field goals this season. The Gamecocks are seventh in the country with an SEC-best 21.2 assists per game and are 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.5, also an SEC best.

Raven Johnson is 17th in the nation with 6.44 assists per game (3rd in SEC). Her 17 assists against Clemson (Nov. 16) were the second-most in program history and the most by an SEC player since 2005. Her 2.76 assist-to-turnover ratio is 26th in the NCAA and third in the SEC.

Behind Johnson, Te-Hina Paopao is eighth in the SEC with 3.78 assists per game, and her 2.27 assist-to-turnover ratio is seventh.

Glass Cleaners
The Gamecocks continue to have a dominant rebounding effort, leading the nation with 51.0 rebounds per game. According to Her Hoop Stats, South Carolina is fourth in the nation in rebounding percentage, securing 61.1 percent of the opportunities actually rebounded.

Their offensive glass work is equally strong, ranking seventh in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage at 43.3 (Her Hoop Stats). The Gamecocks’ 15.4 offensive boards have yielded 19.3 second-chance points, turning each offensive board into an average of 1.25 points.

Three Gamecocks average at least 6.5 rebounds per game, led by Kamilla Cardoso’s 10.7 average, which ranks 17th in the nation (2nd in SEC). Chloe Kitts is next in line at 7.0 to rank 17th in the SEC, and Ashlyn Watkins rounds out the trio at 6.8, which includes three games of double-figure boards.

Cardoso’s 3.3 offensive boards per game are sixth in the SEC, and Watkins is next in line in with 2.90 offensive rebounds per game to rank 13th in the league.