Top-10 Showdown on the Bayou Saturday Night

Gamecock Notables

• This game marks the fifth-straight between South Carolina and LSU in which both are ranked in the top 10. It is the fourth time the teams are meeting on Valentine’s Day.

• The Gamecocks are 6-2 against ranked opponents this season, including a 3-1 mark against top-10 foes. This is their first top-10 road game of the season.

• South Carolina is atop the SEC in field goal percentage (.482) and field goal percentage defense (.355) in league action. The Gamecocks have shot at least 50.0 percent in six of their 11 SEC games, including five of their last six outings. In their last two contests against ranked league foes they shot over 60.0 percent from the field, including over 50.0 percent from 3-point range. Only three SEC foes have shot over 40.0 percent against South Carolina.

• The Gamecocks’ 3-point shooting is among the best in the nation (.379, 8th in NCAA), but the foundation of their success remains in the paint. They are outscoring SEC rivals by 17.1 (40.5-23.5) points per game in the paint and ranked foes by 14.5 (42.0-27.5). South Carolina has been outscored in the paint just once this season.

• Player of the Year candidate Joyce Edwards has been a consistent force this season, ranking 15th in the nation with 20.4 points per game and eighth in field goal percentage at .606. She has scored at least 20 points in the last four games, averaging 22.3 points on 70.2 percent shooting and handing out 3.8 assists per game in that stretch.

• Against ranked opponents this season, senior point guard Raven Johnson has had her hands on 32.4 percent of South Carolina’s total offense. Her 12.3 points per game against ranked teams has come on 55.3 percent shooting, including 42.9 percent from 3-point range, and her assists (5.9 apg) have added another 13.8 points per game.

• Junior guard Tessa Johnson is fifth in the nation in 3-point percentage, hitting 46.4 percent of her outside shots, including 42.0 percent in SEC play and 51.2 percent against ranked opponents. Her 13.6 points per game include 15.1 per game against ranked opponents.

• Senior center Madina Okot returned to the starting lineup the last two games and turned in a pair of double-doubles to move into sixth in the nation with 15 on the season. Her confidence has re-emerged over the last five games, during which she shot 75.0 percent from the field en route to 9.6 points per game.

By the Numbers
4.8 – Joyce Edwards has drawn a team-high 4.8 fouls per game this season.

7.8 – Freshman Ayla McDowell averaged 7.8 points on 51.7 percent shooting over the last five games.

.692 – The Gamecocks’ .692 field goal percentage against Tennessee on Sunday was the second-highest in program history.

The LSU Series
The Gamecocks are 21-22 all-time against LSU but are 18-5 against the Tigers in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), including winning the last 17 meetings. They are 8-12 in Baton Rouge with a 7-3 mark under Staley.

The two teams last met on Jan. 24, 2025, in Columbia with then-No. 2 South Carolina topping then-No. 5 LSU 66-56. The Gamecocks built their lead in the second and third quarters, holding LSU to just 19 points in the middle 20 minutes of the contest and allowing just 29.9 percent shooting for the game. South Carolina benefited from 22 points off 17 LSU turnovers to overcome a 39-51 disadvantage on the glass.

Road Ready
The Gamecocks are 326-264 (.553) all-time in road games (some records prior to 1976-77 did not include location of games), including a 152-49 mark (.756) under head coach Dawn Staley, giving her the best road winning percentage in program history. In SEC road games, the Gamecocks are 105-35 (.750) during Staley’s tenure.

Staley’s Standard
In her 26th season as a head coach, Dawn Staley has a .778 (671-192) winning percentage, which ranks eighth in the nation among active head coaches and 10th all-time. With three national championships, she ranks fourth among head coaches all-time in NCAA titles.

Staley is one of just two women’s basketball coaches to lead their teams to multiple 40-game win streaks in NCAA history with the Gamecocks’ program-record 43-game streak (2023-24) ranking seventh longest in NCAA history. She is one of just 11 men’s or women’s basketball coaches all-time to win at least three NCAA National Championships and the first Black head coach to win multiple titles She is one of seven coaches to lead a team to at least four NCAA National Championship games.

Now in her 18th season with the Gamecocks, Staley is the program’s all-time winningest coach (499) with a program-record 14 postseason appearances. She accounts for all seven of the Gamecocks’ Final Four appearances and the only NCAA National Championships in program history.  Her leadership on the court and in the community resulted in the City of Columbia commissioning a statue of Staley, which stands a short distance from the Gamecocks’ home Colonial Life Arena.