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No. 2/2 Gamecocks Head to Mississippi State Sunday
Women's Basketball  . 

No. 2/2 Gamecocks Head to Mississippi State Sunday

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 2/2 South Carolina plays its second-straight SEC road game on Sun., Jan. 5, at Mississippi State. Tipoff on SEC Network is set for 2 p.m. ET.

Gamecock Notables

  • Dawn Staley posted her 200th career SEC regular-season win on Thursday at Missouri, making her the second-fastest to that mark in SEC history, trailing only Pat Summitt who reached the milestone in 229 games in the 2002-03 season. Staley’s .784 SEC winning percentage (200-55) is second only to Summitt (.874) among coaches who have been in the league at least five seasons.

  • South Carolina is back atop the NET rankings after its SEC opener. The Gamecocks lead the country with four Quad 1 wins and 15 Quad 1 games on the schedule. Their eight wins against NET top-100 teams also leads the NCAA.

  • Staley’s 10-player rotation has the bench playing 47.7 percent of the team’s minutes this season. Three of the Gamecocks’ top five scorers come off the bench, helping them lead the nation with 42.9 points per game, as do two of their top three rebounders.

  • South Carolina’s homegrown trio of Ashlyn Watkins, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Joyce Edwards has been especially locked on both ends of the floor recently. Over the last five games, the three reserves combined for 33.2 points per game on 55.6 percent shooting to go with 13.6 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game.

  • The Gamecocks picked up the pace in December, averaging 21.0 fast break points per game since their loss at UCLA compared to averaging 12.0 in the season’s first six games.

  • Playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, South Carolina still ranks among the NCAA’s top 20 in scoring defense and margin, rebounding average and margin, field goal percentage defense, assist-to-turnover ratio, blocks per game and turnovers per game. The effort is a collective with no player ranking higher than 40th in an individual category (Ashlyn Watkins, 40th in blocks per game).

  • The Gamecocks are a better team when Raven Johnson is thriving, which she has been consistently over the last six games, averaging 8.0 points on 55.9 percent shooting, including 47.1 percent from 3, and 3.0 assists in that stretch.

 

By the Numbers
+6.0 – South Carolina’s bench has outscored its last three opponents’ team total by 6.0 points per game.

44.0 – South Carolina’s 44.0 offensive rebounding percentage ranks eighth in the nation (Her Hoop Stats).

51.8 – The Gamecocks have yielded just 51.8 points per game over their last five outings. Only five opponents have reached 60 points this season.

 

The Mississippi State Series
The Gamecocks are 27-19 all-time against the Bulldogs, including an 18-6 mark in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09). South Carolina is just 8-11 in Starkville but has won its last two games at Humphrey Coliseum.

Last season, the Gamecocks posted an 85-66 win over Mississippi State in Columbia (1/7/24) behind four starters netting double-figure points, including a team-high 15 from Bree Hall. Both teams shot over 50.0 percent in the first quarter, but the Gamecock defense slowed the Bulldogs over the remainder of the game to steadily build the lead

 

Road Ready
The Gamecocks are 313-262 (.544) all-time in road games (some records prior to 1976-77 did not include location of games), including a 138-46 mark (.750) under head coach Dawn Staley, giving her the best road winning percentage in program history. In SEC road games, the Gamecocks are 95-33 (.742) during Staley’s tenure.

The Gamecocks’ recent program-record 33-game road win streak (Jan. 6, 2022 – Nov. 20, 2024) is the third-longest in NCAA Div. I history.

 

All About Balance
Like last season, South Carolina’s greatest asset is its depth with the 2024-25 roster featuring six Gamecocks who averaged at least 18.0 minutes and scored at least 8.1 points per game last season.

This season, 10 Gamecocks have played at least 15.0 minutes per game. Six average at least 7.0 points, including three who average double figures. Four players have grabbed at least 4.0 rebounds per game. Eleven Gamecocks have scored in double figures at least once, including seven who have done it at least four, and five players have led the team in scoring at least once.

 

Sage Seniors
Four-year seniors Sania Feagin and Bree Hall are this year’s most veteran players as the only two on the roster with over 100 games in a Gamecock uniform. Communication has played a role in both players’ longevity and success with their impact showing up in team results beyond their individual box score entries.

Staley lauds Feagin’s on-court communication as the back-line director of the Gamecocks’ defense. Her energy and steady play show the confidence and fitness of the first-year starter with her 6.8 points per game coming on 56.7 percent shooting.

The more experienced of the two, Hall requires little communication from the coaches as she understands what they want and her value to the team. A career built on her defensive effort has also yielded timely big shots in big games. Hall’s 6.3 points per game include 42.5 percent shooting from 3-point range, which ranks second on the team.

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