Top-10 Matchup for The Real SC Saturday

LOS ANGELES – Sprouts Farmers Market The Real SC tips off Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena with a top-10 match between No. 2/2 South Carolina and No. 8/10 Southern Cal. The game will air on FOX.

South Carolina Gamecocks (3-0)
Head Coach: Dawn Staley
Top Scorer: Joyce Edwards (18.3)
Top Rebounder: Madina Okot (9.0)

Southern Cal Trojans (2-0)
Head Coach: Lindsay Gottlieb
Top Scorer: Londynn Jones (17.5)
Top Rebounder: Kara Dunn/Kennedy Smith (6.0)

Gamecock Notables

• The Gamecock offense ranks seventh in the country with a .564 field goal percentage. Nine Gamecocks are shooting at least 50.0 percent from the field, including three who rank among the SEC’s top 15 in field goal percentage. On the other side of the ball, South Carolina leads the nation in field goal percentage defense at .249.

• With 9.0 blocks per game, South Carolina is fourth in the nation in that stat and is blocking 26.0 percent of its opponents’ 2-point attempts, which ranks second in the country (Her Hoop Stats).

• The Gamecocks rank sixth in the nation with a .564 3-point field goal percentage. The trio of starting guards – Raven and Tessa Johnson and Ta’Niya Latson – combine to shoot 48.1 percent from long range. Freshman guards Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell are a combined 6-of-11 (.545) from outside the arc.

• The Gamecocks’ top two scorers – Joyce Edwards and Ta’Niya Latson, respectively – are on every national player of the year watch list and have been effective on both sides of the ball early this season. Edwards is among the SEC’s top 10 in scoring (5th, 18.3 ppg), field goal percentage (9th, .600) and blocks per game (4th, 2.33). The nation’s top scorer in 2024-25, Latson is locking in defensively like never before in her career while also adding 16.3 points (14th in SEC) and 3.6 assists per game as she builds chemistry with her new team.

• Tessa Johnson’s offseason commitment to her game and her physical presence is yielding numbers that are nearly double her career-high output of last season with 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assist per game.

• Four-year starting point guard Raven Johnson’s leadership has driven the Gamecocks’ success throughout her career and her early numbers this season rival her career-best in the undefeated 2023-24 campaign. Ranking fourth in the SEC in assists per game (6.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (4.00), she is adding 8.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and shooting 50.0 percent from the field.

• Center Madina Okot’s two double-doubles are the fifth-most in the NCAA this season and have come in the last two games. She is ninth in the SEC with 9.0 rebounds per game and has netted 12.3 points per game on 57.7 percent shooting. Okot was the SEC’s most efficient scorer last season, hitting 64.9 percent from the field.

By the Numbers
1.56 – South Carolina is scoring 1.56 points per offensive rebound this season.

82.7 – The Gamecocks have won 82.7 percent (24-5) of their games against top-10 foes over the last four seasons.

119 – South Carolina’s 119 consecutive AP Polls in the top 10 is the longest active streak and the eighth longest in the poll’s history.

The Southern Cal Series
The Gamecocks have won all three games in the series, including the two games in the Dawn Staley era. The two teams played a home-and-home series in 2013-14 and 2014-15, beginning in Los Angeles. The initial meeting was also in LA as part of the 1980 AIAW Satellite Tournament.

In the two modern-era meetings, South Carolina was ranked 17th and second, respectively. The Gamecocks topped the Trojans 70-50 on Nov. 24, 2013, and took their home game 70-61 on Nov. 15, 2014.

Ranked Readings
Against ranked teams, South Carolina is 132-71 (.650) 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 117-32 (.785) against ranked teams, including a 47-5 (.904) mark since the start of the 2021-22 season.

It’s T-Time
Junior guard Tessa Johnson is poised to shake off her “Tournament Tessa” moniker to bring “Trusted Tessa” out every time she steps on the court, and she is showing just that on both ends of the floor.

Johnson’s 15.3 points per game are third on the team and 19th in the SEC. She is among the league’s top 15 in field goal percentage (11th, .594), 3-point percentage (14th, .467) and made 3s per game (11th, 2.33). Within games, she has shaken off challenges to get to the next play or the next way she can help propel the team forward.

Johnson turned in career-high numbers last season with 8.4 points and 1.5 assists per game. That production came after a freshman year that saw her shine in the most crucial moments of the team’s undefeated run to the 2024 National Championship. She averaged 14.0 points on 58.8 percent shooting in the final weekend of the season, including a team-best 19 points in the title game. to earn a spot on the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team..