Women's Hoops on the Bayou Sunday

COLUMBIA, S.C. – #21/25 South Carolina is back on the road for an SEC battle at LSU Sunday afternoon on SEC Network. The Gamecocks (11-4, 3-0 SEC) are coming off their largest SEC victory since Jan. 25, 2018, while LSU (11-4, 2-1 SEC) knocked off a ranked league foe in its last home game.

SOUTH CAROLINA NOTABLES
• Today’s game pits the SEC’s top two defensive teams as both the Gamecocks and Lady Tigers have yielded just 52.0 points per game in SEC action so far this season. On the season, LSU ranks fifth in the nation by giving up just 51.4 points per game, while South Carolina has ceded 62.4 points per game through 15 games. Offensively, the Gamecocks have out-scored the Lady Tigers both overall (74.7-64.0 ppg) and in league play (64.3-56.0 ppg).

• South Carolina has won six straight as they seem to have embraced that their identity is centered around their versatility. So, while no single Gamecock has consistently gaudy numbers, four average more than 9.0 points and three pull in more than 5.0 rebounds per game. Three Gamecocks shot over 35.0 percent from 3-point range. There are nine Gamecocks averaging more than 15.0 minutes on the season and seven have led the team in scoring at least once, including a different scoring leader in each of the first three SEC outings.

• Head coach Dawn Staley but per seventh different starting lineup of the season on the court against Florida Thursday night, ending a season-long streak of four games with the game starters.

• Don’t look now, but redshirt-senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore is getting ever closer to being the disruptive force she was during the Gamecocks’ run to the 2017 National Championship and has moved into the starting lineup. She is tied for second on the team with 10.3 points per game in SEC action, shooting 40.0 percent from 3-point range and 50.0 percent overall over the last three games. 

BY THE NUMBERS
+6.7 Rebounding margin in SEC play after entering conference play at +2.8

7 Games over five or more assists by Tyasha Harris, including a season-high eight vs. Florida (Jan. 10)

12.8 Average AP ranking of the four teams to which the Gamecocks have lost this season

13.3 Points per game by Mikiah Herbert Harrigan in SEC play after averaging 8.3 vs. non-conference

ROAD READY
The Gamecocks are 252-254 all-time in true road games, including a 77-40 (.655) mark under head coach Dawn Staley. In SEC action, Staley is 51-29 (.641) on the road in her 11th season at South Carolina.

PREDICTABLY UNPREDICTABLE
The Gamecock offense must be a nightmare for opposing coaches to scout as South Carolina has captured its 11 wins in every way imaginable.

South Carolina has won five games scoring in the 60s and five games scoring 80 or more points. It has won six games by fewer than 20 points and five by more than 20.

Six wins have come when shooting better than 45.0 percent from the field and five when shooting below that mark. The Gamecocks have six wins when scoring more second-chance points than their opponent and five when scoring the same or fewer.

Through six different starting lineups, the Gamecocks are 5-1 when their starters out-score their opponents’ first five and 6-3 when matching or being out-scored by them. South Carolina’s bench is out-scoring its opponent’s by 11.6 points per game, the largest margin in the SEC.

South Carolina is 5-2 when making five or more 3s and 6-2 and making fewer than five. After making 10 or more 3s just nine times through the first 10 seasons of the Staley era, the Gamecocks have hit that mark four times already this season. 

Seven games have seen at least 40.0 percent of the Gamecocks’ scoring come from their forwards, including four games of at least 50.0 percent.

Seven different Gamecocks have led the team in scoring at least once. Just one Gamecock ranks among the SEC’s top 30 scorers (Te’a Cooper, 29th, 11.9 ppg), but four average over 9.0 points.