Women's Hoops at No. 13/16 LSU Thursday

#1/1 SOUTH CAROLINA (13-1, 1-1) AT #13/16 LSU (14-1, 2-0)
JANUARY 6, 2022  |  8 P.M. ET  |  BATON ROUGE, LA. | MARAVICH CENTER (13,215)

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

• South Carolina and LSU are two of the SEC’s top three rebounding teams this season. The Gamecocks’ 46.0 rpg edges out the Tigers’ 44.7, but LSU’s .759 defensive rebounding percentage is just ahead of South Carolina’s .758. The Gamecocks have the edge on the offensive glass, securing 44.1 percent of their own missed shots compared to LSU’s 38.8 percent.
• The Gamecocks broke out of a December shooting slump, hitting 50.0 percent vs Mississippi St. (Jan.2). For the season, South Carolina is shooting 44.7 percent.
• South Carolina’s defense has remained stalwart all season, limiting opponents to just 34.1 percent shooting to rank 14th in the nation. Only one opponent has reached 70 points this season, needing overtime to do it (Missouri, Dec. 30), and only three others exceeded 60 points.
• National Player of the Year candidate Aliyah Boston has a streak of seven double-doubles that has moved her up the NCAA stats. Sixth in double-doubles on the season (8), she is 10th in blocks per game (3.1), 22nd in rebounds per game (10.4), 23rd in defensive rebounds per game (7.1) and 25th in field goal percentage (.575).
• Preseason All-American Zia Cooke led the offense against Mississippi State (Jan. 2) with 18 points, her fifth game of the season with at least 15 points. She has scored in double figures in 60 of her career 78 games, and her 13 career 20-point games are the most on the current roster.
• Senior Victaria Saxton has grabbed 24 offensive rebounds in the last five games (4.8 per game) to lead the team. She is 10th in the SEC with 2.8 offensive boards per game on the season.
• For the second straight season, Destanni Henderson is among the SEC’s best in assists per game, handing out 5.3 per game this season to rank second.

BY THE NUMBERS

6 – That Gamecocks rank among the NCAA top 25 in six stats – opp. ppg, scoring margin, FG %age defense, reb. avg., reb. margin, blocks avg.

7.3 – In three games since returning from her left leg injury, Destanni Henderson has handed out 7.3 assists per game.

34 – South Carolina’s all-time 34 weeks at No. 1 in the AP Poll are tied for the sixth-most in the history of that poll (Duke, Old Dominion).

NOTES

The LSU Series
LSU leads the overall series 22-16, but the Gamecocks have won the last 12 meetings and are 13-5 against the Tigers in the Dawn Staley era. This is the fourth time South Carolina has carried a No. 1 ranking into a game against LSU, including last season’s Valentine’s Day matchup, which it won by seven (66-59) in Columbia.

The Gamecocks also won their last trip to the Maravich Center, a 69-65 decision on Jan. 24, 2021. The Tigers took a two-point lead into halftime of that game, and the teams tied the third quarter. South Carolina took the lead early in the fourth on a Destanni Henderson 3-pointer and stretched it to nine with just 1:14 left to play. LeLe Grissett poured in all eight of her points in the final period, all on fast breaks. The Tigers persisted, forcing a pair of late turnovers but ran out of time to fully close the gap.

Road Ready
The Gamecocks are 279-260 all-time in road games, including a 104-46 mark under head coach Dawn Staley.  Her .693 winning percentage on the road is the best in program history.

In SEC road games, Gamecocks are 71-33 (.683) during Staley’s tenure.
 

Ranked Readings
Against ranked opponents, South Carolina is 91-66 in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), and even that mark is skewed by the early seasons of her tenure.

Since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the Gamecocks are 76-27 against ranked teams, including a 28-6 mark since the start of the 2019-20 season.

This season, South Carolina’s six wins over ranked opponents (all top-15 teams) are the most in the country and have come by an average of 10.3 points.

Junior Aliyah Boston leads the team against ranked opponents, averaging a double-double (16.5 pts/11.7 rebs) to go with 4.0 blocks per game.

Henny-thing Goes
Senior point guard Destanni Henderson is coming into her own in her final collegiate season, proving that trust in the process works. Entering the program as the No. 1 point guard in the Class of 2018, she waited her turn to step in to the starting role – even accepting a star bench position as a sophomore instead of clamoring for a start at a different guard spot.

In two season as the starting point guard, Henderson is handing out 5.1 assists per game, including 25 of 42 games with five or more, and has a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. Her 12.0 points per game in that time includes 41.4 percent from 3-point range. A more surprising stat for the 5-foot-8 speedster is her 4.6 rebounding average as a starter as well.