
Gamecocks Head to Georgia Thursday Night
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 2/2 South Carolina opens a two-game road swing Thursday night at Georgia. Tipoff at Stegeman Coliseum is set for 6 p.m. with the game streaming on SEC Network+
Gamecock Notables
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The Gamecocks have been atop the NET rankings for a majority of the season thanks to a schedule dominated by ranked opponents and Quad 1 games. South Carolina’s 10 Quad 1 wins are three more than any other team in the nation, and there are five more Quad 1 games among the regular-season’s eight remaining games.
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South Carolina’s defense has held opponents to an SEC-low 34.3 percent shooting to rank sixth in the nation, and opponents are only slightly better from close range, shooting 40.0 percent in the paint. The Gamecocks’ 10 ranked opponents have not fared any better, hitting just 34.4 percent from the field, including 25.9 percent from the arc.
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The Gamecocks’ 57.1 percent shooting Sunday against Auburn was their best mark in league play this season. Overall, South Carolina is 16th in the nation with a .471 field goal percentage, including an SEC-best 48.3 percent mark in league play.
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South Carolina’s bench has outscored an opponent’s starters 11 times this season, including three ranked teams. On the season, the Gamecock bench’s NCAA-best 41.8 points per game matches its opponents’ starters’ average.
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Redshirt-junior Raven Johnson is fifth in the NCAA with a 3.35 assist-to-turnover ratio. The veteran point guard has been on top of her game over the last two weeks, averaging 8.3 points, 4.8 assists and 3.5 assists per game and shooting 52.0 percent over the last four outings.
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Freshman of the Year candidate Joyce Edwards is the Gamecocks’ top scorer with a bulk of her production coming against the top teams in the country. Her 12.7 points per game overall include 12.1 per game against ranked opponents and 15.1 against SEC foes. Against the five ranked SEC teams she faced in January, Edwards averaged 16.0 points on 60.4 percent shooting.
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Junior forward Chloe Kitts has been steady in SEC action, shaking off a tough league opener to average 10.8 points on 55.7 percent shooting, and 8.1 rebounds over the last eight games. She is third on the team with 2.3 assists per league game after handing out just 10 total in 13 non-conference games.
By the Numbers
6.1 – South Carolina is sixth in the nation with 6.1 blocked shots per game, including an SEC-best 6.44 per league game.
11 – Eleven Gamecocks have scored in double figures at least once this season, including five who have hit the mark at least nine times.
41.7 – The Gamecocks’ 41.7 points in the paint per game are fourth-most in the nation.
The Georgia Series
The Gamecocks are 25-33 all-time against the Lady Bulldogs, but 21 of those wins have come in the 27 games of the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), including the current 18-game win streak.
In last season’s 70-56 win in Columbia (Feb. 18), top-ranked South Carolina overcame a seven-point halftime deficit with a blistering second-half defensive effort, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 42-21 in the final 20 minutes.
Ranking Review
South Carolina is ranked No. 2 in both the AP Poll and the USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Poll this week.
It marks the Gamecocks 110th consecutive entry in the AP top 10, beginning with the 2019-20 preseason poll. It is the longest active streak and the 10th longest in the history of that poll (9th is 111, Stanford). Their 241 straight appearances in the AP Poll, dating back to Dec. 10, 2012, marks the second-longest active streak in the nation and is the eighth longest all-time (7th, Texas Tech, 248).
In the USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Poll, South Carolina has been in the top 10 since claiming the No. 10 spot in the 2019-20 preseason poll.
Serious Scheduling
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley has never been afraid to challenge her team to prepare it for the rigors of March and April. This season is no different.
The Gamecocks’ 30-game regular-season schedule includes 14 games against teams in the national rankings this week or at the time of the game, including seven against teams in the top 10. Six of the 14 games are against non-conference opponents.
Over the last 10 seasons, South Carolina has played an average of 9.6 regular-season games against ranked foes. If this season’s current 14 holds, it would be the most regular-season ranked games in program history. The six against non-conference foes matches the 2021-22 schedule for the program high.
So far, South Carolina is 9-1 against ranked foes – vs #9/8 NC State (W, 71-57; 11/10), at #5/6 UCLA (L, 62-77; 11/24), vs. #15/15 Iowa State (W, 76-36; 11/28), vs #8/9 Duke (W, 81-70, 12/5), vs. #9/13 TCU (W, 85-52, 12/8), vs. #5/6 Texas (W, 67-50), at #13/13 Alabama (W, 76-58), vs. #13/13 Oklahoma (W, 101-60), vs. #5/4 LSU (W, 66-56), at #18/17 Tennessee (W, 70-63).
Paint Production
South Carolina has long controlled the paint, and this season’s numbers have upheld that standard.
With 51.3 percent of their points coming in the paint, the Gamecocks are fourth in the nation with 41.7 paint point per game, according to CBBanalytics.com, and are out-scoring opponents in that space by 15.8 points per game. They are shooting 54.7 percent in the paint compared to opponents’ 40.0 percent accuracy in the space.