Gamecocks Host Ole Miss, Raise Banner Thursday Night

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 12/13 South Carolina hosts Ole Miss at Colonial Life Arena Thursday night with the Gamecocks (16-5, 8-1 SEC) looking to extend a four-game win streak on the season. South Carolina’s 2018 SEC Tournament championship team will receive its rings and see its banner unveiled in a ceremony scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

SOUTH CAROLINA NOTABLES
• The Gamecock offense has been clicking lately – and not just one name has been on the rise. In the last five games, all five starters average double-figure points, ranging from Te’a Coopers 15.2 to Bianca Cuevas-Moore’s 10.4. In that stretch, which includes three games against ranked opponents (two of which were on the road), South Carolina is averaging 78.8 points on 44.6 percent shooting and six Gamecocks have scored 15 or more points at least once.

• South Carolina has scored at least 70 points in each of the last seven games. The Gamecocks reached that mark just seven times in 12 non-conference games.

• A pair of freshmen led the way in Sunday’s win at Arkansas when the Razorbacks managed to slow down two of the Gamecocks’ usual high scorers. After averaging a combined 13.7 minutes over the previous three games, Destanni Henderson and SEC Freshman of the Week Victaria Saxton answered the call from Staley at Arkansas, tying for the team lead with 19 points each with 22 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Saxton was especially effective on the glass, pulling down nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end, all of which she turned into two points. Henderson hit 2-of-3 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter to continually turn back the charging Razorbacks.

• Another Gamecock who answered when called upon at Arkansas was senior Doniyah Cliney. Playing only intermittently in recent games, the veteran started at Arkansas and tied her career high with nine rebounds, including six in the pivotal fourth quarter.

• Senior forward Alexis Jennings has quietly posted back-to-back double-doubles, averaging  14.0 points and 12.0 rebounds last week. She is 14th in the SEC with 6.8 rebounds per league game and is shooting 60.5 percent over the last four games.
 

BY THE NUMBERS
.701 SEC regular-season winning percentage of Dawn Staley, second all-time to Pat Summitt (.874) among coaches with at least eight seasons in the league

7 Gamecocks who have scored 15 or more points in an SEC game at least once this season

9 Gamecocks who have led or tied for the team lead in scoring at least once this season

10 Games Carolina has played against top-50 RPI teams this season – third-most in the country

OLE MISS SERIES NOTES
South Carolina leads the series against Ole Miss 22-17 behind 10 straight wins and a 12-2 mark in the Dawn Staley era. The Gamecocks’ two losses since the 2008-09 season were by a combined two points.

The Gamecocks are 5-1 against Ole Miss in Columbia in the Staley era, with the five wins coming by an average of 15.7 points. 

TY TIME
Junior Tyasha Harris is a proven multi-threat point guard, which has earned her spots on the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy and Nancy Lieberman Award watch lists. SEC coaches also tapped her for Preseason First-Team All-SEC recognition.

After taking the on-court reins of the Gamecocks midway through her freshman year and guiding the team to the 2017 National Championship, Harris nearly doubled both her assist and scoring output in her sophomore campaign (10.4 ppg, 6.1 apg), playing just seven more minutes per game than the season before.

This season, Harris averages 10.6 points and 4.5 assists, meaning she has her hands on a team-high 21.5 points per game this season. Her assist average ranks fifth in the SEC, and her 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio is 13th in the country.

Harris has scored in double figures 38 times in her career, including a team-high 13 games this season, and has handed out five or more assists in 46 of her 94  career games, including 12 so far this season.

Harris finished the 2017-18 season with six double-doubles, the most by any Gamecock in a single season She trails just Cristina Ciocan’s nine career points-assists double-doubles in program history.

ALEXIS NEXUS
Senior forward Alexis Jennings has found her place as the base of the frontcourt this season after last season’s effort earned her 2018-19 preseason accolades – Katrina McClain Award Watch List, Preseason All-SEC. 

After missing the season opener and playing restricted minutes early as she recovered from an injury, Jennings announced her physical return with a 12-point, 14-rebound game against #9/8 Oregon State (Nov. 23). She has scored in double figures 11 times in the 14 games since then, including six of the last seven.

On the season, Jennings is third on the team with 10.5 points per game to go with her team-high 6.0 rebounds per game, which rank 18th in the SEC. 

Including her two seasons at Kentucky, Jennings ranks fourth among active SEC players in career double-doubles (16), comes in fourth in rebounds (722) and is 12th in points (1,217). Over her two seasons in Columbia, Jennings has nine double-doubles, five of which came against ranked opponents.

VS SQUAD
Freshman forward Victaria Saxton was a top-50 recruit in the 2018 class and has shown coachability and athleticism. She logged the most minutes of the three freshmen in the season opener at Alabama State (Nov. 11), hitting 4-of-5 from the field and picking up three steals in her 20 minutes on the court. 

While Saxton continues to work on getting stronger in the post, her confidence has grown through the season. She averages 4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, making the biggest impact on the defensive end where she ranks ninth in the SEC with 1.2 blocked shots per game.

Saxton has been on a tear recently, turning in a solid pair of games at #19/15 Kentucky (Jan. 31) and at Arkansas (Feb. 3) to earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Feb. 5. Over her last five outings, she averaged 6.0 points on 11-of-13 shooting (.846) and 5.0 rebounds, including a near-miss on her first career double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds at Arkansas.