Gamecocks Open SEC Play Saturday at CLA Against Miss. State

­­­­COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (12-1) welcomes in Mississippi State (11-2) to Colonial Life Arena on Saturday for the team’s SEC opener. Tip time is set for high noon (ET) with arena doors opening 1 hour prior.

John Sadak and Steve Lappas will be on the call for the nationally televised game on CBS.

The Gamecocks are seeking to improve to 13-1 for the sixth time in program history (1933-34, 1944-45, 1969-70, 2003-04 and 2015-16). A victory would also mark the team’s first 10-game home win streak since the 2015-16 season when the team started the year 13-0 at home. That tied the longest home win streak since the 1997-98 team won 13-in-a-row at home.

Both teams have two of the best scoring defenses in the country so far this season. The Bulldogs lead the SEC and rank 17^th in the nation, allowing just 62.7 points per game. The Gamecocks are second in the SEC and rank 21^st nationally, allowing just 63.1 points per game.

Mississippi State also ranks 24^th nationally (2^nd in the SEC) in field goal percentage defense (38.7 percent) and seventh in the country (1^st in the SEC) in 3-point field goal percentage defense (26.3 percent).

The Bulldogs are led by graduate All-SEC forward Tolu Smith III. Smith missed the first 12 games of the season with a foot injury but returned in their last game against Bethune-Cookman, scoring a team-high 16 points with nine rebounds.

Single-game tickets remain on sale for the Gamecocks, click here to purchase.

VENUE: Colonial Life Arena

BROADCAST: CBS

PLAY-BY-PLAY: John Sadak

ANALYST: Steve Lappas

RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network  

IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott

ANALYST: Casey Manning

SIRIUSXM: 106 or 190 | SXM APP: 961

WATCH: cbs.com

LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast.com

SERIES: Bulldogs lead, 29-17

IN COLUMBIA: Gamecocks lead, 11-10

SERIES TREND: Bulldogs have won three straight dating back to 2022 SEC Tournament.

LAST MEETING: 74-68 Bulldog win at The Hump on Feb. 28, 2023 ; Shakeel Moore had 20 points and Gregory “GG” Jackson II led Carolina with 22 points and eight rebounds.

UP NEXT

Carolina hits the road for a pair of games next week, first traveling to Alabama (8-5) on Tuesday night. Tip is set for 7 p.m. (ET) on SEC Network. Dave Neal (pxp) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will be on the call for the broadcast. The Gamecocks are then at Missouri (8-5) on Saturday.

###