Skip to main content
Partner logo
Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link Gamecocks+
Gamecocks Start Postseason Push Friday
Women's Basketball  . 

Gamecocks Start Postseason Push Friday

SEC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS
NOON  |  GREENVILLE, S.C.  |  BON SECOURS WELLNESS ARENA

South Carolina Game Notes | WATCH: SEC Network | LISTEN: 107.5 The Game | Live Stats
 

GAMECOCKS IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT

  • The Gamecocks are 20-24 all-time in SEC Tournament action, and South Carolina is the only team in league history to win four consecutive tournament titles (2015-2018).
  • This is the fourth time South Carolina has earned the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament (2014-2017).
  • Under head coach Dawn Staley, the Gamecocks are 6-2 in SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
  • South Carolina is 3-2 in the SEC Tournament games played in Greenville with all three wins coming en route to the 2017 tournament title.

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

  • South Carolina has posted two of the four 16-0 SEC seasons in league history – 2016, 2020.
  • The 2020 SEC Regular-Season Championship is the Gamecocks’ fifth in the last seven seasons and second in the four-year careers of seniors Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan.
  • The 2020 SEC coaches’ awards were littered with Gamecocks, headlined by Aliyah Boston as the Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year and Dawn Staley as the SEC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her 12-year career at South Carolina. Boston and Tyasha Harris were on the All-SEC First Team, and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan picked up All-SEC Second-Team recognition. Zia Cooke joined Boston on the All-Freshman Team. 
  • Starting three freshmen throughout the season, South Carolina has dominated the 10th-toughest schedule in the country,  recording more wins over top-50 RPI teams (14) and top-25 RPI opponents (8) than any other team. The Gamecocks’ 11 wins over AP Top-25 opponents leads the nation by two and includes four wins over top-10 teams.
  • The SEC’s top defensive team, allowing just 55.7 points per game overall (19th in the nation) and 58.3 points per SEC game, had just one entry on the SEC All-Defensive Team in Aliyah Boston. The Gamecocks have held their opponent under 60 points 21 times this season, including 10 SEC games and six games against nationally ranked opponents.
  • The last five games have seen the most veteran Gamecocks surging with Mikiah Herbert Harrigan leading the team with 13.8 points per game on 51.1 percent shooting and 2.0 blocks per game in that stretch. Tyasha Harris moves up to third in scoring over the last five wins at 11.4 points per game while averaging 6.2 assists. Junior LeLe Grissett has surged off the bench as well, adding 8.4 points per game on 73.9 percent (17-of-23) shooting.
  • The three Naismith award semifinalists were announced this week, all with South Carolina entries. Aliyah Boston and Tyasha Harris are among the 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy. Boston is on the Defensive Player of the Year list, and Staley is in the running for Coach of the year.
  • Freshman Aliyah Boston has put together one of the best freshman seasons in Gamecock history, closely mirroring the immediate impact of Alaina Coates. Boston joined Coates as the only SEC Freshman of the Year winners in league history to also earn another of the league’s highest individual honors as she added Defensive Player of the Year honors. Boston has broken Coates’ South Carolina freshman records for blocked shots (79), double-doubles (12) and double-doubles vs. SEC (7) in a season and claimed Aleighsa Welch’s freshman season offensive rebounds record (109). She is out-scoring Coates (12.9-12.3) on better shooting (.614-.612) and averages more rebounds (10.2-8.5) and blocked shots (2.3-2.3).


BY THE NUMBERS
26.5 South Carolina’s bench averaged 26.5 points in SEC play, accounting for 31.9 percent of the Gamecocks’ 83.1 points per game.

30.1 Between her scoring (12.0 ppg) and points scored off her assists (12.6 ppg), Tyasha Harris has her hands only 30.1 percent of the Gamecocks’ 81.7 ppg.

43.5 South Carolina is second in the country with a 43.5 percent offensive rebounding rate, which it has turned into 15.9 second-chance points per game.

67.4 With 41.6 points in the paint pr game, 67.4 percent of the Gamecocks’ made field goals have come in the lane.

81.7 Scoring 81.7 points per game, this season’s team in on pace to break the program record for scoring average (80.2 ppg in 1988-89).

138 Dawn Staley’s 138 SEC regular-season victories ranks sixth among all-time SEC coaches.

Related stories