Gamecock Gameday: No. 4/6 Gamecocks Back on the Road Sunday

Feb. 4, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 4/6 South Carolina continues its three-game week with a 2 p.m. (ET) tipoff at Arkansas Sunday. The Gamecocks (19-2, 9-1 SEC) and Razorbacks (13-9, 2-7) are two of the stingiest defensive teams in the SEC this season, though South Carolina also leads the league in scoring offense, while Arkansas ranks 10th.

South Carolina Notables

• The Gamecocks are 8-3 against the Razorbacks in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09 season), including seven straight victories. The all-time series began when both teams joined the SEC for the 1991-92 season and includes 16 games in which at least one of the teams was nationally ranked.
• Today’s game features two of the SEC’s top three defensive teams with the Gamecocks (55.8) and Razorbacks (58.0) ranking second and third in the league, respectively in opponent scoring average this season.
• Behind the dominant frontcourt of Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson, South Carolina has been solid on the defensive glass, especially in SEC play. The Gamecocks secure 69.0 percent of the defensive rebounds in league action, allowing just 9.8 second-chance points per conference game. On the other side, South Carolina averages 12.9 second-chance points per SEC contest.
• National Player of the Year candidate A’ja Wilson recorded her seventh 20-point scoring game of the season on Thursday at Kentucky, matching her single-season career high for such games set last season. She has 19 20-point games in her career, including 11 in SEC play, which moves her into fourth in program history. She is now ahead of Tiffany Mitchell’s nine and just one behind Annie Lester’s 12 in third place.
• All-America candidate Alaina Coates is one of five players on an AP top-25 team averaging a double-double this season with her 13.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. She has played the third-fewest minutes per game of the group (27.3) and is second in field goal percentage (.661). Of the five teams those players represent, only the Gamecocks have more than three players averaging double-figure points and only South Carolina has another player averaging more than 6.5 rebounds.
• Junior transfer Allisha Gray has proven to be more than just a scorer for the Gamecocks, but her scoring has drawn significant attention in recent weeks. A patient player dedicated to doing what the team needs, she is the team’s top scorer in the second half, netting 6.9 points per final 20 minutes on 55.9 percent shooting.
• Freshman point guard Tyasha Harris ranks sixth in the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio in league play (1.9), tops among league freshmen. Moving into the starting role to open SEC play, she averages 3.7 assists per conference game, handing out five or more assists four times, including each of the last two games.

By the Numbers

2 Players who rank among the SEC’s top 15 in both steals and blocks per conference game ââ’¬” Alaina Coates (15th, 1.6 spg/7th, 1.4 bpg), Allisha Gray (11th, 1.7 spg/13th, 0.9 bpg)
4 Opponents this season who have scored more than 65 points ââ’¬” #7/6 Ohio state, #14/15 Texas, Duke, Tennessee
4 SEC-only stats in which Allisha Gray ranks among the league’s top 15 ââ’¬” free throw percentage (7th, .789), steals per game (11th, 1.7), made 3s per game (15th, 1.4) and blocks per game (13th, 0.9) ââ’¬” to go with her 22nd place in scoring (13.6 ppg)
4.2 Assists per game by freshman point guard Tyasha Harris over the last five games
5 Gamecocks who average double-figure points in SEC play ââ’¬” Wilson (17.6), Gray (13.6), Coates (12.6), Cuevas-Moore (10.9) and K. Davis (10.7)
15 Games this season in which South Carolina’s starters have scored more points than its opponent’s total
19.8 Points per game by A’ja Wilson in the four games since being fully cleared after her ankle injury
50.8 Percent of her career 126 games played in which Alaina Coates has grabbed double-digit rebounds, including 15 of 21 games this season

Arkansas Series Notes

The Razorbacks lead the series 17-14, but the Gamecocks have won seven straight and eight of the last nine, including their last three trips to Fayetteville.

Last season’s 84-32 win in Columbia marked the second-largest margin of victory by South Carolina in an SEC game. The win came largely on the Gamecocks’ ability to both shoot and defend the 3-point line. Led by seven from Tina Roy, South Carolina hit 11-of-23 (.478) from beyond the arc while holding the Razorbacks to just 1-of-12 shooting from long range. The Gamecocks dominated the glass 48-26 with double-doubles from Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson as they controlled points in the paint 44-10.

Road Ready

The Gamecocks are 236-246 all-time in true road games, including a 64-35 mark under head coach Dawn Staley. In SEC action, Staley is 42-25 on the road in her ninth season at South Carolina.

Rankings Review

Ranked fourth in this week’s AP Poll, the Gamecocks are in the midst of the nation’s third-longest active top-10 ranking streak (64), trailing just UConn (227) and Notre Dame (120) and well ahead of fourth-place Baylor (49). South Carolina has appeared in the top 25 in each of the last 86 AP Polls.

In the Staley era, South Carolina has collected 51 top-five rankings in the AP Poll, including 42 weeks in the top three and 12 weeks at No. 1.

20/20 Vision

Five different Gamecocks have recorded at least one 20-point game this season ââ’¬” A’ja Wilson (7), Alaina Coates (4), Kaela Davis (3), Allisha Gray (2) and Bianca Cuevas-Moore (1) ââ’¬” across 13 games this season. Two Gamecocks have reached that mark in the same game four times, marking the most such games in a season since 2009-10. The 2001-02 team also record four such games. Five games in the 1990-91 saw multiple 20-point scorers, as did seven games in the 1985-86 season and 10 games in the 1988-90 campaign.

Alai-ja Awaits

Opponents may be inclined to think of the paint as the Gamecock-owned continent of Alai-ja as senior center Alaina Coates and junior forward A’ja Wilson have firmly planted the flag in the lane on both ends of the court. Both were on numerous preseason All-America lists this season with Wilson grabbing 32 of a possible 33 first-team votes from the Associated Press. ESPN tapped Wilson as the top player in the nation this season as well, naming Coates the No. 9 player.

This season, the pair combine to average 29.0 points and 18.1 rebounds while shooting a combined 61.3 percent from the field. In six games against ranked opponents, those averages rise to 32.3 points, accounting for 42.5 percent of the offense, and 21.5 rebounds. Not just one-dimensional threats, the duo also averages 3.0 assists this season. Defensively, they combine for 3.6 blocked shots per game.

Earning All-America and First-Team All-SEC status last season, the duo averaged a combined 27.3 points, 18.5 rebounds and 4.2 blocks. In the Gamecocks’ 15 games against ranked opponents, the pair was even more dominant with 29.7 points per game, 20.3 rebounds per contest and 4.9 blocks per outing.