Women's Basketball . February 8, 2023

Women's Hoops at Auburn Thursday

South Carolina Gamecocks

Auburn Tigers

Feb 9, 2023 | 8:00 pm Auburn, AL

TV: SECN

RADIO: Gamecocks Sports Network

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 1/1 South Carolina women’s basketball is back on the road and in SEC action, traveling to Auburn for an 8 p.m. ET tipoff that will stream on SEC Network+.

The Auburn Series
South Carolina leads the series 28-21 behind its current 13-game win streak over the Tigers. Auburn holds the series edge at home, 12-10, but the Gamecocks have won the last five meetings in Auburn.

In this season’s series opener on Jan. 5, South Carolina exploded out of the gate to take a 26-7 lead after the first quarter an never looked back en route to a 94-42 victory. Kamilla Cardoso led four Gamecocks in double figures with 16, and South Carolina out-rebounded Auburn 45-25.

By the Numbers

3 – Aliyah Boston needs three blocked shots to tie A’ja Wilson for the program record for career blocks in SEC play (158).

45.5 – The Gamecocks average 45.5 points in the paint per game, accounting for 55.3 percent of their offense.

50.2 – South Carolina leads the nation, rebounding 50.2 percent of its own missed shots.

Gamecock Notables

South Carolina’s bench averages 40.0 points per game this season, including 37.0 in SEC action. The Gamecock bench has outscored its starting counterparts 10 times this season, including four SEC games. Three of the Gamecocks’ top five scorers come off the bench.
Reigning National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston continues to stamp her authority on the sport, ranking fifth in the nation with 16 double-doubles, including a current eight-game streak, coming in 15th in field goal percentage (.593), 21st in blocks per game (2.09) and offensive rebounds per game (3.78) and 25th in total rebounds per game (10.04). She is the only player in the nation to rank among the top five in both offensive and defensive player rating, according to Her Hoop Stats. Her averages have skyrocketed over the last five games with 17.0 points and 12.2 rebounds to go with 62.5 percent shooting and 2.6 blocks per game.
A strong candidate for SEC Sixth Woman of the Year, junior Kamilla Cardoso has been especially dominant in the last five games, averaging 11.4 points and 10.6 rebounds. Twenty-six of her 53 total rebounds in that stretch came on the offensive end, and she scored 23 points off them. For the season, Cardoso has lifted her averages to 9.8 points and 8.23 rebounds, which ranks fourth in the SEC.
SEC Freshman of the Year candidate Raven Johnson has thrived in the brightest spotlight this season, including seven assists and no turnovers in 36 minutes at UConn, which helped her to SEC Freshman of the Week honors this week. Over the last five games, she has poured in 7.8 points per game on 48.4 percent shooting, to go along with her 3.6 assists per game.
Senior Zia Cooke continues to shoot at a career-best efficiency, hitting 39.9 percent for the season to turn in a career-best 23.7 points per 40 minutes. Her 16.3 points per SEC game ranks ninth in the league.

The Staley File
In her 22nd season as a head coach, Dawn Staley has a .752 (561-185) winning percentage, which ranks 11th in the nation among active head coaches with at least 10 seasons of experience and ninth among those with at least 20 years in the position. The unanimous 2020 National Coach of the Year, she became the first person to win both a Naismith Player of the Year Trophy and a Naismith Coach of the Year Trophy and the first Black head coach to win multiple national championships in men’s or women’s basketball.

In her 15th season leading the Gamecocks, Staley is the program’s all-time winningest coach (389) with a program-record 11 postseason appearances (10 NCAA/1 WNIT). She accounts for all four of the Gamecocks’ Final Four appearances (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022) and the first NCAA National Championships in program history (2017, 2022).

After claiming six SEC regular-season titles, Staley has won 177 SEC games, the most among active league coaches and third all-time – trailing just Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Andy Landers (Georgia, 273) and Pat Summitt (Tennessee, 306). Her 11.9 SEC wins average per full season is the best in league history among coaches with more than one year in the league, and her .763 SEC winning percentage (177-55) is second only to Summitt (.874) in league history.

“O” – That’s Good!
While retaining its sterling reputation as a defensive stalwart, South Carolina’s offense is clamoring for its share of the spotlight this season. The Gamecocks are ninth in the nation in scoring offense (82.2 ppg) and 14th in field goal percentage (.467), and their efficiency has continued in SEC action with a league-leading 46.5 percent shooting.

South Carolina has shot over 50.0 percent in a game nine times this season, including three games over 60.0 percent. Last season’s National Championship team hit the 50.0 percent mark just seven times all season.

Four Gamecocks are shooting at least 50.0 percent from the field with Aliyah Boston leading the SEC and ranking 15th in the nation with 59.3 percent accuracy. In SEC games, 11 Gamecocks are shooting 40.0 percent or better, including four hitting at least 50.0 percent.

In SEC action, the class has lost a total of just three league games en route to two regular-season titles (2020, 2022). They have played in three SEC Tournament championship games, claiming the title in two of those (2020, 2021).

Now in its senior season, South Carolina’s first No. 1 signing class – Laeticia Amihere, Brea Beal, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Olivia Thompson – has shaped the program from the moment those five freshmen gathered on campus.

In careers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the group has reached the Final Four in both their NCAA Tournament appearances, including winning the 2022 National Championship, and has never been ranked outside the top 10. With a combined 115-8 record, they have won 93.5 percent of their games, including a 40-6 mark against nationally ranked opponents.

Bench Mob
South Carolina’s depth has been a hot topic this season, and it has not disappointed.

Averaging 96.6 minutes per game, the Gamecock bench has been especially productive offensively, averaging 40.0 points to account for 48.7 percent of the Gamecocks’ total offense while shooting 48.4 percent. By comparison, last season’s bench netted just 21.1 points per game for 29.8 percent of the offense.

Only two opponents’ benches have out-scored South Carolina’s this season – South Dakota State (Dec. 15, 19-15), at Georgia (Jan. 2, 21-19). The Gamecock bench has tied or out-scored an opponent’s starters 12 times and has tied or out-scored its own starters 10 times.

Four Gamecocks have come off the bench to score in double figures in at least five games so far this season – Kamilla Cardoso (11), Ashlyn Watkins (6), Laeticia Amihere (5), Sania Feagin (5).

The bench’s offensive production has come in key games with this season’s group averaging 34.0 points against ranked opponents (42.2 percent), including some timely buckets in tight games, and 37.0 points in SEC play.

On the boards, the bench has grabbed 52.1 percent of the total rebounds so far this season (24.0 per game). Kamilla Cardoso leads that group with her 8.23 boards per game, which rank her fourth in the SEC.