Gamecock Gameday: Top-5 Showdown Monday at Colonial Life Arena

Jan. 22, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Colonial Life Arena hosts its first top-five matchup of the season when No. 5/5 South Carolina takes on No. 4/4 Mississippi State on Mon., Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Gamecocks (16-1, 6-0 SEC) and Bulldogs (20-0, 6-0 SEC) are the last two unbeaten teams in SEC play this season and are the top two teams in scoring defense in the league.

South Carolina Notables

• South Carolina is 8-3 against Mississippi State in the Dawn Staley era with defense dominating the series during that time. The Gamecocks have allowed 60 or more points just once in the 11 games. In the all-time series (33 games), both teams have been nationally ranked five times, including one top-10 matchup, the 2015-16 regular-season meeting, a 57-51 win by then No. 2 South Carolina over then-No. 10 Mississippi State. The higher-ranked team won all five of those outings.
• Tonight’s game features the SEC’s top two scoring defenses, with Mississippi State yielding 53.5 points per game and South Carolina ceding 54.6. In SEC action, those positions are reversed with the Gamecocks at 54.0 ppg and the Bulldogs at 54.7.
• South Carolina has won an SEC-best four games against ranked opponents this season, including three top-10 victories. Just one of those games was at home and one at a neutral site. This is the Gamecocks’ second game this season against the fourth-ranked team in the nation.
• Tonight’s game includes two of the SEC’s top 10 scorers in Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians (4th, 17.1 ppg) and South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson (10th, 16.1 ppg). The only other entries among the league’s top-25 scorers on the court will be Gamecocks — Alaina Coates (17th, 14.7 ppg), Allisha Gray (21st, 13.2) and Kaela Davis (23rd, 13.1).
• In SEC play, five Gamecocks average double-figure points with junior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore joining the high-scoring group at 13.3 points per game, including 59.1 percent shooting from 3-point range to lead the league.
• Junior forward A’ja Wilson returned to the court on Thursday after missing two games with an ankle sprain suffered late at Florida (Jan. 8). Playing just 15 minutes, she netted six points on 3-of-5 shooting and added four rebounds.
• Senior center Alaina Coates has 12 double-doubles this season, including the last four games and five of six SEC outings.
• In the last four games, junior guard Allisha Gray has been the most well-rounded Gamecock, averaging 16.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 steals.
• In four games against ranked opponents this season, junior guard Kaela Davis has been at her best. She is second on the team with 16.0 points per game, including 56.3 percent 3-point shooting, and third on the glass with a 6.3 average. She picked up a team-best 1.8 steals per game and is second with 2.3 assists per contest.

By the Numbers

2Career stats in which Alaina Coates leads all active NCAA Div. I players — rebounds (1,115), double-doubles (54)
3 Opponents this season who have scored more than 65 points — #7/6 Ohio state, #14/15 Texas, Duke
6 Games this season in which at least one player from the opposing team has fouled out, including all four games against ranked foes.
7 SEC-only stats in which South Carolina leads the league — scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, rebounding margin and blocked shots
21 Made 3s by junior Bianca Cuevas-Moore this season, already her career high
25.3 Free throws made per game against ranked teams this season by the Gamecocks (10.0 by their opponents)
29 Consecutive SEC home wins for the Gamecocks, dating back to the Feb. 10, 2013, loss to Texas A&M
51.0 Percent of the Gamecocks’ offense that comes from points in the paint

Mississippi State Series Notes

After winning the last eight meetings, South Carolina leads the series 17-16. The current win streak snapped a four-game skid and includes a pair of wins last season. In the Dawn Staley, defense has dominated the series with the Gamecocks yielding 60 or more points just once in the 11 games (2013-14).

The Gamecocks claimed a tight 57-51 victory in Starkville last season (Jan. 24) behind veterans plays from seniors Tiffany Mitchell and Asia Dozier that held off the Bulldogs. The rematch in the SEC Tournament title game turned the Gamecocks’ way in the second quarter when the defense held Mississippi State to six points on 3-of-13 shooting en route to a 66-52 win that delivered South Carolina’s second-straight tournament crown.

Gamecock junior A’ja Wilson averages a double-double in her three games against the Bulldogs, posting 12.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. In those three games, the combination of Wilson and Alaina Coates have propelled the Gamecocks to dominate the lane, scoring 46.9 percent of their points in the paint compared to just 26.1 percent of Mississippi State’s points coming from close range.

Holding Home Court

Ranked fifth in this week’s AP Poll, the Gamecocks are in the midst of the nation’s third-longest active top-10 ranking streak (62), trailing just UConn (225) and Notre Dame (118) and well ahead of fourth-place Baylor (47). South Carolina has appeared in the top 25 in each of the last 84 AP Polls.

Ranked Readings

Under head coach Dawn Staley, South Carolina is 42-44 against nationally ranked opponents, including a 16-17 mark at Colonial Life Arena. That overall record is skewed by the early seasons of her tenure as the Gamecocks are 27-5 versus ranked foes since the start of the 2014-15 campaign. South Carolina is 12-3 against top-10 opponents during that time.

This season, the Gamecocks’ 4-0 record against ranked foes, includes just one home game and a neutral-site win over then-No. 4/4 Louisville (83-89, Nov. 27).

Everybody’s All-American?

Despite dominating the paint for four seasons with the Gamecocks, senior Alaina Coates has long toiled in the shadow of her SEC Player of the Year teammates. Despite one of the most consistent careers in program history and currently ranking as the active career NCAA Div. I leader in rebounds (1,115) and double-doubles (54), her first All-America nod, honorable mention status from AP and the WBCA, came last season. Still, SEC coaches have long known that when you play South Carolina, you can not ignore Alaina Coates.

This season, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley hope that the rest of the country also takes notice of her 6-foot-4 center as Coates ranks among the nation’s best in field goal percentage (5th, .683), double-doubles (6th, 12) and rebounds (13th, 10.9). She averages a double-double overall (14.7 ppg/10.9 rpg), in SEC play (14.8/11.2) and against nationally ranked opponents (13.3/12.0).

Coates’ impact is often unquantifiable, though, a she keeps the defense organized in addition to blocking 1.6 shots per game — nearly 60.0 percent of which result in a transition opportunity for the Gamecocks. Her mobility is unmatched for her size, and her ability to seal the lane in both transition and a half-court set should get an assist.

As Staley likes to say, “There’s no one in the country that can do what she does.”