Women's Basketball . March 28, 2019

Gamecocks vs. Baylor on Sweet 16 Saturday

GREENSBORO, N.C. – No. 15/18 South Carolina takes on No. 1/1 Baylor in the second game of the NCAA Tournament Greensboro Region on Sat., Mar. 30. Tipoff of the Sweet 16 game on ESPN will be at approximately 2 p.m. The Gamecocks are facing the No. 1 team in the country in a regional for the second time in as many seasons.

SOUTH CAROLINA NOTABLES
• The Gamecocks are in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the sixth straight season, joining Baylor, Connecticut, Notre Dame and Stanford as the only programs to hold a current streak that long. Staley has led South Carolina to eight NCAA Tournaments and has one at least one game in all eight seasons, making them one of eight teams – and the only SEC team – to make that claim during that stretch.

• While 12 of the 13 Gamecocks on the active roster have scored in double figures at least once this season, two have been the most consistent in that category – Alexis Jennings and Tyasha Harris. Each has hit the mark 21 times this season. In SEC action, Jennings notched double digits in 12 of the 16 outings, including a one 20-point game. Harris also logged one 20-point game among her 10 double-digit scoring games in SEC play.

• After battling back from an ankle injury suffered early in the Feb. 21 game against Kentucky, junior Te’a Cooper appears to be at full strength in the NCAA Tournament. The aggressive guard played in two games prior to last week but was less than 100 percent, scoring just seven points combined on 25.0 percent shooting in the two outings. Since the extended break after the SEC Tournament, Cooper tied for the team lead in scoring in the opening NCAA Tournament games, averaging 14.0 points on 61.1 percent shooting – including 3-of-5 from 3-point range – while also contributing 2.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.

• Junior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan has transferred her annual stellar SEC Tournament play into this season’s NCAA Tournament with 12.5 points on 66.6 percent shooting and 3.0 blocks per game last weekend. Her 10-point, five-rebound second quarter against #25/22 Florida State established a seven-point halftime lead.

• Senior forward Alexis Jennings is stamping her authority on the end of the Gamecocks’ season and the end of her college career. She is averaging 14.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in postseason play. Her nine points and three rebounds in the fourth quarter of the NCAA Tournament second-round game against #25/22 Florida State included an and-one finish in a tie game that put the Gamecocks on top for good.

• Junior point guard Tyasha Harris continues to burnish her reputation as the Gamecocks’ floor general while expanding her own offensive confidence at the urging of her head coach. Over the last five games, Harris scored 16.1 points per game on 43.5 percent shooting while still handing out 4.8 assists per game. She has two 20-point outings in that stretch, but no play showed her confidence in that mindset more than calling her own number in a one-point game with 30 seconds to play against #25/22 Florida State. Her three-point play set the stage for the victory, and her two free throws with nine seconds to go sealed the trip to the Sweet 16.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 Gamecock all-time who reached 500 career assists as a junior – Tyasha Harris

6 South Carolina games against ranked opponents this season that were decided by single digits

8 Different Gamecocks who have started at least once in the last five games

8.4 Rebounds per game by Alexis Jennings over the last five games

13 Points needed by Bianca Cuevas-Moore to reach 1,000 in her career

16.6 Points per game by Mikiah Herbert Harrigan over the last five games

21 Games each in double figures this season by forward Alexis Jennings and guard Tyasha Harris

BAYLOR SERIES HISTORY
The Gamecocks and Lady Bears have met just once in women’s basketball, but the two head coaches share an auspicious honor. Dawn Staley and Kim Mulkey are the only two women to play and sever as a head coach in the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

In the lone previous meeting between the teams earlier this season, Baylor picked up the 94-69 victory behind phenomenal first-half shooting – 24-of-37 (.649) – to establish a commanding halftime lead. The Gamecocks played much more evenly in the second half with the Lady Bears outscoring them by just three points over the final 20 minutes.

THE GREENSBORO REGION
South Carolina has previous history with all three teams joining them this weekend in Greensboro. In addition to this season’s earlier meeting with Baylor, the Gamecocks have faced Iowa once before in program history and have squared off with NC State 30 times.

The lone meeting between South Carolina and Iowa came on Dec. 29, 1989, on Hilton Head Island, S.C., with the Gamecocks posting an 82-76 victory.

In their longer history with NC State, South Carolina trails the Wolfpack 19-11. Four of those games have come in the Dawn Staley era with a 3-1 Gamecock advantage in those contests. Among the 30 total meetings, one came in the postseason as NC State topped South Carolina 72-68 in Raleigh in the second round of the 2008 WNIT.

NCAA TOURNAMENT TALLY
South Carolina is in its 17th NCAA Tournament and eighth straight under head coach Dawn Staley, making this season’s senior class just the sixth in program history to play in the NCAA Tournament every season and the fourth straight to do so.

The Gamecocks are 30-14 overall in the NCAA Tournament with 10 Sweet 16 appearances, four Elite 8 seasons, two Final Four showings and the 2017 National Championship.

In her 19th season as a head coach, Staley has taken a team to the NCAA Tournament 14 times. She is 24-12 at the event, including a 22-6 mark at South Carolina.

Last weekend two current Gamecocks became program record holders for their career NCAA Tournament outings. With 46 assists in her 12 career NCAA Tournament games, Tyasha Harris took over Tiffany Mitchell’s record. Senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore’s two steals against Florida State moved her into the record for career steals in NCAA Tournament action – 23 in 16 games – replacing A’ja Wilson in the category.

GAMECOCKS AGAINST THE FIELD
South Carolina has faced five teams this season that are still in the NCAA Tournament field, including three non-conference foes. The Gamecocks went 1-5 against those teams – Baylor (0-1), Connecticut (0-1), Mississippi State (0-2), Oregon State (0-1) and Texas A&M (1-0).

This season, the Gamecocks faced seven other teams that made the 2019 NCAA Tournament field, including four of the 16 teams that started in the Greensboro Region (Baylor, Kentucky, Missouri, Drake). South Carolina went 6-8 against those 12 teams, including a 5-3 mark against the six SEC foes on the list.

In addition to their six SEC rivals in the field – Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas A&M – the Gamecocks faced non-conference games against Baylor, Clemson, Drake, Maryland, Oregon State and UConn.