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Gamecocks Host Kentucky on Senior Day Sunday
Women's Basketball  . 

Gamecocks Host Kentucky on Senior Day Sunday

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 6/6 South Carolina closes the regular season at home on Sunday against No. 15/14 Kentucky at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

Fan Information

  • TRAFFIC ADVISORY: Road closures will affect traffic patterns around Colonial Life Arena. Greene Street will be closed from Park to Lincoln, and Lincoln Street will be closed from Devine to Greene. 
  • Single-game parking in lots immediately around Colonial Life Arena will be $20 per car as mandated by the University.
  • All doors at Colonial Life Arena will open at 12:30 p.m. The Fast Break Pass entrance will open at noon.
  • First 1,500 fans will get a commemorative Senior Day t-shirt (XLs only).
  • Senior Day ceremonies will begin at approximately 1:40 p.m.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina will honors its seniors prior to the game with special attention for the 2021 signing class of Sania Feagin, Bree Hall and Raven Johnson. The quartet has played in every NCAA Final Four of their careers, including winning National Championships in 2022 and 2024, has won the SEC regular-season each of the last three seasons and has two SEC Tournament titles to their name. Their 135 career victories are the most by a four-year class in program history and include 41 wins over ranked opponents.

  • The Gamecocks’ nine wins over ranked opponents lead the nation as their full body of work continues to put them in the NCAA Top-Four Seed conversation. The nine wins include two over top-five teams and a total of five over top-10 entries, which also leads the nation. The average opponent rank of South Carolina’s wins is 11.2, second only to Notre Dame’s 10.7 mark. While both teams have three losses on the season, the Gamecocks’ have all come against top-10 opponents with two on the road.

  • In 12 games against ranked opponents, South Carolina is shooting 45.0 percent from the field, just shy of its season mark of 46.3, which ranks 25th in the nation.

  • The Gamecock defense has held opponents under 60 points 17 times this season, including nine of 15 SEC games and six of 12 ranked opponents.

  • Junior Chloe Kitts averaged a double-double over the last three games with 10.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, buoyed by her triple-double at Ole Miss on Thursday. She shot 55.0 percent over that stretch. For the season, she is ninth in the SEC in rebounding (7.82) and eighth in offensive rebounding (2.93).

  • Starting guards Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao are the only teammates to both rank among the SEC’s top 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio in league play. Johnson’s 3.33 mark leads the conference, and Paopao is fourth at 2.13. Their efficiency has the Gamecocks atop the conference with a 1.44 assist-to-turnover ratio.

  • Freshman Joyce Edwards has scored in double figures in five straight games and 12 of her 15 SEC outings. Her .567 field goal percentage is 25th in the nation and rises to 58.9 percent in SEC action, which ranks second in the league.

 

By the Numbers
4 – Four Gamecocks averaged at least 10 points over the last three games.

41.9 – South Carolina’s 41.9 points in the paint per game lead the nation.

61 – The three four-year seniors have been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll 61 of a possible 76 weeks in their careers.

 

The Kentucky Series
The Gamecocks are 41-35 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 25-11 mark in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), and have won the last four meetings.

South Carolina won both meetings last season, topping Kentucky 103-55 in Lexington (Feb. 25) and 98-36 in Columbia (Jan. 15). Six Gamecocks scored in double figures in each game. MiLaysia Fulwiley averaged 15.5 points across the two games on 7-of-12 shooting.

 

Block Party
South Carolina annually ranks among the best shot blocking teams in the country, and, with every Gamecock recording at least one block this season, they are continuing the tradition. Even without a dominant center and the loss of top shot blocker Ashlyn Watkins to injury, the Gamecocks are fifth in the nation with 5.8 blocks per game, including 2.03 per game from guards.

Senior Sania Feagin is sixth in the SEC with a team-high 1.59 blocks per game, including 2.07 in SEC play, which ranks second the league. MiLaysia Fulwiley is the league’s top shot-blocking guard in conference play, ranking 12th in with 0.87 blocks per SEC game.

 

Sage Seniors
Four-year seniors Sania Feagin and Bree Hall are this year’s most veteran players as the two on the roster with the most 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 career numbers this season of 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, playing just three minutes per game more than last season. Defensively she has been a difference-maker for the Gamecocks manning the center position. Sixth in the SEC with 1.59 blocks per game overall, she is second in the league with 2.07 per conference contest.

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 outside traditional measures. A career built on defensive effort has also yielded timely big shots in big games en route to 6.4 points per game, including 7.0 per game over the last three.

 

That’s So Raven
Junior Raven Johnson has turned her 2024 All-SEC effort into spots on the Naismith and Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award preseason watch lists after capping her ‘Revenge Tour’ with a lock-down defensive effort in the National Championship game.

This season Johnson’s scoring volume has dipped – although it’s often timely – but her contributions continue to be integral to the team’s success. As Staley says, the Gamecocks have done nothing but win with Johnson in the lineup.

The junior leads the team with 3.0 assists per game and her 2.93 assist-to-turnover ratio is eighth in the NCAA. In SEC play, she is 13th in the league with 3.33 assists per game and a league-best 3.33 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Johnson is the team’s top rebounding guard at 4.4 per game, including a 10-rebound outing against #5/5 Texas (Jan. 12) and four other games with at last seven rebounds. She continues to be a menace on the defensive end as well, ranking 14th in the SEC with 1.73 steals per league game, including five-steal outings against #5/4 LSU (Jan. 24) and at Mississippi State (Jan. 5) and a career-best six swipes against Auburn (Feb. 2).

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