Feb. 18, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 6/5 South Carolina is back on the road this weekend, traveling to Missouri for a 3 p.m. (ET) tipoff against the Tigers on Sun., Feb. 19, on ESPN2. The Gamecocks (22-3, 12-1 SEC) are looking for their fourth-straight win over the Tigers (18-9, 8-5 SEC), while Missouri has an eye on one of the top four seeds in the upcoming SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C.

South Carolina Notables

• South Carolina is 3-1 against Missouri since the Tigers joined the SEC but just 1-1 against them in Mizzou Arena. Both previous games in the SEC’s western Columbia have been low-scoring affairs with the Gamecocks averaging 59.5 points compared to their 80.5 average in the two games in the eastern Columbia.
• With more than one-third of Missouri’s offense in SEC games coming via the 3-point shot, tonight’s game may be decided around the arc. The Gamecocks are third in the league in 3-point field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 28.1 percent in SEC action, while the Tigers are second in the conference hitting 39.1 percent from long range in league play. South Carolina is coming of a win over Vanderbilt Thursday night, during which the Commodores shot just 22.2 percent from 3-point range after entering the game hitting 39.3 percent in conference games.
• Tonight’s game features two of the SEC’s top six scorers in league play in Mizzou’s Sophie Cunningham (17.5 ppg) and South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson (16.9 ppg). Cunningham’s additional points come via 6.5 minutes per game more than Wilson averages in league play. Wilson leads the efficiency battle, hitting 61.2 percent from the field compared to Cunningham’s 46.3 percent accuracy in SEC games.
• The Gamecock offense is built around its All-America frontcourt of Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson again this season. The duo averages 29.3 points per game, accounting for 38.2 percent of the South Carolina offense. They are not the only producers in the paint, however, with South Carolina averaging 38.2 points in the paint, including 35.1 per SEC game.
• South Carolina has shown its versatility in how many different ways it has won games this season. The Gamecocks can deliver high-powered offense, going 16-1 in games scoring 70 or more points, including a 7-1 mark in SEC action. They can also slow it down and control tempo for teams that prefer a faster pace, going 6-1 in games scoring in the 60s, including a 5-0 slate in league play. The defense should not be overlooked either with a 14-0 mark when holding opponents under 60 points with half of those games coming in SEC action.
• In her last three SEC games, senior center Alaina Coates led the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.3 points and 11.7 boards while shooting 72.4 percent during the stretch.
• When South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley gave freshman point guard Tyasha Harris the “keys to the car” by putting her in the starting lineup to direct one of the highest scoring offenses in the SEC, she had two goals in mind ââ’¬” get her four 1,000-point scorers off to a faster start and bring scoring punch off the bench. On Harris’ watch, the Gamecocks average 20.9 points per first quarter compared to 18.9 first-quarter points when she came off the bench. Ceding the starting point guard spot at the start of SEC action has allowed junior Bianca Cuevas-Moore to go from 6.7 points per game on 33.8 percent shooting to 9.8 points per game on 43.7 percent shooting, including 48.8 percent from 3-point range.

By the Numbers

1 Turnover by freshman point guard Tyasha Harris in her last 120 minutes on the court, including 34 turnover-free minutes at #1/1 UConn (Feb. 13)
2 Career stats in which Alaina Coates leads all active NCAA Div. I players ââ’¬” rebounds (1,217), double-doubles (57)
4 Gamecocks ranks among the SEC’s top 30 scorers both overall and in SEC play ââ’¬” Alaina Coates, Kaela Davis, Allisha Gray, A’ja Wilson
7 Games this season in which A’ja Wilson has shot at least 66.7 percent from the field
10 Games in which the Gamecocks have allowed fewer than 50 points, including six SEC contests

Missouri Series Notes

The Gamecocks lead the series 4-1, including a 3-1 record since the Tigers joined the SEC for the 2012-13 season. After suffering a loss in the first league game between to the two teams (65-58 at Mizzou on Feb. 28, 2013), the Gamecocks have claimed the last three contests by an average of 17.3 points.

Offense has been tough to come by for the two teams in the two games played at Mizzou Arena with the Gamecocks averaging just 59.5 points in the SEC’s western Columbia and the home team netting 57.0 points per game. In the most recent meeting on the Tigers’ homecourt, the then-No. 1 ranked Gamecocks needed a late surge to pry open a one-possession game in the final five minutes, hitting 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the last two minutes of the 60-49 victory.

In last season’s meeting on Jan. 10, 2016, at Colonial Life Arena, the first in which both teams were nationally ranked, the Gamecocks wasted little time putting a stamp on their SEC season that would end with a perfect 16-0 record, shutting down Missouri’s offense in the first quarter and powering home an 83-58 victory. Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson controlled the paint with each posting a double-double, while the defense held the Tigers to just five points on 2-of-18 shooting in the opening quarter.

Senior Moments

The Gamecocks’ 2017 Senior Class surpassed last year’s group for the most SEC wins in a four-year span, recording their 57th regular-season league win against Vanderbilt (Feb. 16). With an overall four-year record of 118-13, the class of Alaina Coates and Tiffany Davis are just off the record of 121 set by 2016’s seniors.

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 are on the Naismith Top 30 and Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 lists, and, in the preseason, 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 28.4 points and 18.10 rebounds while shooting a combined 61.6 percent from the field. In seven games against ranked opponents, those averages rise to 31.6 points, accounting for 43.2 percent of the offense, and 21.3 rebounds. Not just one-dimensional threats, the duo also averages 3.1 assists this season and one or the other has led the team in assists six times this season. Defensively, they combine for 3.5 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.

To Three, or Not to Three

South Carolina added a pair of outside threats with junior transfers Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray, but the Gamecocks’ offensive strategy continues to center on the paint. In fact, the addition of the outside weapons has made South Carolina no more reliant on the 3-point shot for scoring this season than last.

This season’s 137 3s account for 21.5 percent of the Gamecocks’ total offense, which is just SHY of last season when the 190 3s made up 22.1 percent of the offense.

Interestingly, reliance on outside shooting decreases dramatically against ranked opponents. In seven games against top-25 foes this season, South Carolina’s 28 3-pointers made up just 16.4 percent of its 511 points, which is much lower than the 18.0 percent of the offense in 15 games against ranked foes last season.

The two-game absence of All-America forward A’ja Wilson also did not impact the Gamecocks’ desire to line it up from outside the arc. In the two games without Wilson in the lineup, 22.0 percent of South Carolina’s points came from long range compared to 21.5 percent in the games she has played.