Wilson Earns Second SEC Player of the Week Honor This Season

Nov. 28, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. ââ’¬” South Carolina senior forward A’ja Wilson earned SEC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, the league office announced today. Wilson helped the Gamecocks to a runner-up finish in the Gulf Coast Showcase behind a pair of 30-point games in the three-game tournament. She finished the tournament averaging 28.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.7 blocks and 3.3 assists while shooting 61.9 percent from the field.

Wilson reset her career-high points twice at the Gulf Coast Showcase, first turning in 33 against Rutgers Friday afternoon and then posting 34 against No. 6/6 Notre Dame on Sunday. Her Sunday scoring made her the first Gamecock in program history to record three 30-point games against ranked opponents as the effort joined her 32-point outing against then-No. 15/13 Maryland (11/13/17) and her 31-point game at then-No. 14/15 Texas (12/1/16).

The Hopkins, S.C., native scored 18 of her 34 points against Notre Dame in the fourth quarter, including a pair of steals on the perimeter that she drove to the rim and finished around a defender. The tournament also included her fifth and sixth double-doubles of the season as she pulled in 10 rebounds to go with her 33 points against Rutgers and turned in 17 points and a Gulf Coast Showcase record 17 rebounds against St. John’s. She blocked at least three shots in each game of the event and earned All-Tournament Team honors.

The fifth-ranked Gamecocks are back at Colonial Life Arena for their next four games, including Thursday’s 7 p.m. tipoff against Western Carolina. The homestand continues with a noon game on Sun., Dec. 3, against No. 14 Duke.