Women's Hoops Back at Home Thursday

Gameday Information
Doors Open: 5:30 p.m. | 4:45 p.m. for Fast Break Pass
Theme: Play4Kay

South Carolina Gamecocks
Head Coach: Dawn Staley
Top Scorer: Joyce Edwards (20.3)
Top Rebounder: Madina Okot (10.0)

Mississippi State Bulldogs
Head Coach: Sam Purcell
Top Scorer: Madison Francis (13.2)
Top Rebounder: Favour Nwaedozi (10.4)

Gamecock Notables

• South Carolina is 12th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at .375 for the season. The Gamecocks have shot at least 40 percent from long range in 12 games, including five hitting at least 50.0 percent of their 3s. Tessa Johnson leads the team and the SEC with 49.5 percent accuracy, which ranks her ninth in the nation. Her 2.7 3s per game are fourth in the league.

• The Gamecocks’ inside game drives the offense, ranking second in the country with 47.2 points in the paint per game, including 38.4 per SEC game. They are shooting 61.6 percent in the paint this season, including 54.4 percent in SEC games.

• Through its first four home SEC outings, including three against ranked teams, South Carolina is outscoring its opponents by 20.0 points per game and out-rebounding them by an average of 7.5 boards. Five Gamecocks average double-figure points for those four outings with a sixth coming in at 8.3 points per game.

• The Gamecocks have used six different starting lineups this season but the starting five – whatever the combination – have out-scored their counterparts by 28.8 points per game this season, including a +14.3 margin in SEC action.

• South Carolina is fourth in the NET rankings this week, and its five Quad 1 wins are the third-most in the country. The Gamecocks have 12 Quad 1 games on the schedule and currently have a 5-2 mark in those outings. Three of the remaining five Quad 1 matchups are on the road at LSU, Alabama and Kentucky.

• Sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel has been making the most of extended playing time in SEC action, growing in her mastery of conducting the Gamecocks on both sides of the ball. She is second on the team with 3.1 assists per game and second in the SEC with a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. After averaging 17.0 minutes in non-conference games, her court time is up to 23.9 minutes per conference outing.

• Senior Madina Okot’s efficiency has skyrocketed in the last three games as she moved to coming off the bench. In that stretch, she shot 92.9 percent (13-of-14) from the field, which has helped her move back to the top of the SEC’s field goal percentage leaderboard at .603 for the season – a number that ranks ninth in the nation.

By the Numbers
9.4 – South Carolina is out-scoring opponents by an average of 9.4 points in the first quarter  (+8.0 in SEC play).

14 – Joyce Edwards’ 14 points in the fourth quarter at Texas A&M were the most in a quarter by a Gamecock this season.

15.3 – South Carolina has blocked 15.3 percent of its opponents’ 2-point attempts this season to rank seventh in the nation.

The Mississippi State Series
The Gamecocks are 28-19 all-time against Mississippi State, including a 19-6 mark in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09). South Carolina has won the last seven meetings with those wins coming by an average of 14.9 points.

The teams last met on Jan. 5, 2025, in Starkville, with the Gamecocks winning 95-68 behind 22 points from Tessa Johnson. The Bulldogs had the lead after the first quarter, but South Carolina dominated the second and third periods, shooting 60.0 percent from the field in the middle 20 minutes of the game, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range in that stretch.

Efficiency Report
A focus for South Carolina is efficiency – creating its own and disrupting its opponents’. They are among the best in the nation at both – ranking fifth in the NCAA in field goal percentage (.510) and in field goal percentage defense (.338). The Gamecocks are second in the nation in offensive points per possession (1.209) and points per possession allowed (0.716), per Synergy.

Individually, four Gamecock are among the SEC’s top 15 percentage shooters. Madina Okot leads the group at an SEC-best 60.3 percent shooting, which ranks ninth in the nation, and Joyce Edwards is just behind at 59.9 percent to rank third in the SEC and 14th  in the country. Ta’Niya Latson’s 49.3 percent accuracy comes in seventh in the SEC, and Tessa Johnson’s 483 percent is 12th.

From 3-point range, the Gamecocks are 12th in the nation with a .375 percentage that ranks third in the SEC. Tessa Johnson is among the nation’s most accurate outside shooters with her SEC-best 45.9 percent accuracy ranking ninth in the nation. She is one of two players ranked among the SEC’s top 15 in both overall and 3-point percentage. Johnson’s 2.7 made 3s per game are fourth in the SEC and include five games of at least four made 3s. 

The Ay-las Have It
The #15 player in the 2025 Class, freshman guard Ayla McDowell is a McDonald’s All-American and a three-time district MVP out of Cypress, Texas, whose international experience with Brazil’s national team has helped smooth her transition to college basketball.

Coaches have praised her competitive fire and her predictability, meaning she makes the right play. Lately, that reliability has begun to show up in the box score.

In the last six games, including two top-20 outings, McDowell averaged 4.8 points on 47.8 percent shooting, including 46.7 percent from 3-point range, in 15.3 minutes per game.

On the season, McDowell is scoring 4.7 points per game and shooting 40.7 percent. In the 13 games in which she has played at least 15 minutes, her scoring rises to 6.5 points per game on 43.8 percent shooting.