No. 4/3 Gamecocks Head to No. 21/19 Mississippi State Thursday

#4/3 SOUTH CAROLINA (12-1, 7-0) AT #21/19 MISSISSIPPI ST (8-4, 3-3)
7 P.M. ET   |  STARKVILLE, MISS.  |  HUMPHREY COLISEUM

South Carolina Game Notes | WATCH: ESPN | LISTEN: 1320 AM/107.5 FM in progress | Live Stats

ABOUT THIS GAME

• Tonight’s game pits former U.S. Olympic gold medal winning teammates and former colleagues against each other as Dawn Staley and Nikki McCray captured Olympic gold in 1996 and 2000 and shared the South Carolina bench for nine seasons (2008-09 through 2016-17).
• South Carolina is looking for its 24th straight SEC regular-season victory tonight, which would match its longest SEC win streak – Jan. 3, 2016 through Jan. 26, 2017. Including three wins in the 2020 SEC Tournament, the Gamecocks have defeated an SEC opponent 26 straight games.
• A win tonight would be the Gamecocks’ 200th SEC regular-season victory with 146 of them having come in their 13 seasons under head coach Dawn Staley.

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

• South Carolina has proven it can win in a variety of ways this season with a 7-1 record when scoring at least 60 points and a 5-1 mark when held under 60 points. In the last two weeks alone, the Gamecocks won with their highest two SEC point totals in program history (106 at Vanderbilt, 104 vs. Arkansas) and won with two of their three lowest-scoring outputs of the season (62 vs. #22/23 Georgia, 69 at LSU).
• Of the Gamecocks’ 12 wins this season, nine have come by double digits, including five of their seven SEC victories. South Carolina is eighth in the nation in scoring margin at +23.8 with a +19.9 advantage in league play. Both numbers lead the SEC.
• Averaging 18.3 offensive rebounds per game, South Carolina ranks fourth in the nation in that stat. Those boards have led to 18.2 second-chance points per game on the season. Four Gamecocks rank among the SEC’s top 15 in offensive rebounding average – Boston (2nd, 4.0), Grissett (7th, 2.8), Saxton (7th, 2.8) and Amihere (13th, 2.5).
• It’s no secret that the Gamecocks want to push tempo whenever possible, and junior point guard Destanni Henderson is key to that effort. In SEC games, South Carolina averages 22.0 fast-break points, accounting for 27.1 percent of their 81.1 points per game. Henderson has scored 6.3 of those fast-break points per game and has assisted on another 4.3 – putting her hands on 48.1 percent (10.6 ppg) of the fast-break points.
• Unanimous AP Preseason All-American Aliyah Boston is making a solid case for national player of the year consideration. The 6-foot-5 sophomore averages a double-double overall (14.8 ppg/11.3 rpg), in SEC play (17.7/12.7) and against ranked opponents (15.7/11.3). She has pulled in double-digit rebounds in seven straight games and has four 20-point outings in her seven SEC games this season. She was especially dominant in the last seven days, averaging 20.7 points on 54.5 percent shooting, 13.7 rebounds and 5.7 blocks over those three games, including two against ranked opponents.
• Destanni Henderson ranks 17th in the country with an SEC-best 5.9 assists per game with four games of eight or more assists, including one double-double, and her assist numbers rise to 6.7 in SEC play. The distribution has not slowed down her own scoring, as she ranks third on the team with 12.5 points per game on the season and 12.6 points per game in SEC games.
• Sophomore Brea Beal has been solid on both sides of the ball in the last four games. While helping lock down the opponent’s top scorer, she has added 14.5 points per game on 58.3 percent shooting, including 53.8 percent from 3-point range.

BY THE NUMBERS

3 Sophomore Aliyah Boston needs just three blocked shots to move into a tie for 10th in program history in career blocks, playing in just 46 career games so far.

5 With five wins over ranked teams, South Carolina is tied with Texas A&M for the most in the country. For both teams, just two of the wins came at home.

25 The Gamecocks have appeared in the top five of the last 25 AP Polls, the longest active streak in the country.

61.3 South Carolina leads the SEC  in scoring defense, allowing league opponents just 61.3 points per game.

62.0 In SEC play, the Gamecocks have scored 62.0 percent of their 81.1 points per game in the paint.