Latest availability report ahead of another ranked showdown for South Carolina women's basketball
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley has been at the helm of the Gamecock program since the 2008-2009 season. During her tenure, she has faced off against three Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coaches, the legendary Pat Summitt, her successor Holly Warlick, and Kellie Harper. On Monday, Staley will match wits with a new coach in orange and white as Kim Caldwell and the Vols will host South Carolina in Thompson-Boling Arena in a ranked battle.
The good news for women’s basketball fans is that injuries shouldn’t mar this conference contest. Both the Gamecocks and the Volunteers will be without one contributor. However, neither injury absence is a surprise.
According to the SEC-mandated availability report, only USC forward Ashlyn Watkins and UT guard Kaiya Wynn will miss the contest.
For the Gamecocks, Coach Staley listed Watkins as “out,” as expected. The junior All-SEC performer tore her ACL earlier this month. No other player made the availability report, indicating a full bench other than Watkins.
For the Vols, Coach Caldwell’s report also included just one player. Wynn tore her Achilles Tendon last season but has not returned to action. Tennessee should be at full strength on Monday night, otherwise.
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During the offseason, the SEC approved a new policy that mandates availability reports for conference games. The reports will be required for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball. For football, teams submit reports on Wednesday and then update them each day until a final report 90 minutes before game time. For basketball and baseball, reports will be submitted the evening before a game and then updated on game day.
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The availability reports will use designations such as “available,” “probable,” “questionable,” “doubtful,” and “out” to describe how likely it is that a particular player will suit up for the next conference game. On game day, those designations will shift to “out” or “game-time decision.” The reports model professional sports leagues’ injury reports.
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South Carolina and Tennessee will tip off their Monday evening tilt at 7:00 p.m. ESPN2 will broadcast the SEC showdown, while the ESPN app will make it available for streaming.
The Thompson-Boling Arena crowd will be fired up as it always is when the Gamecocks come to town. Dawn Staley and South Carolina ended Tennessee’s SEC dynasty and established their own. The Vols have not won an SEC regular season title since splitting one with USC in the 2014-2015 season and have not won an SEC Tournament since the year before that. Since those UT championships, South Carolina has won three national titles, seven regular season conference titles, and eight conference tournament championships.
Following a top-5 victory over LSU, the Gamecocks enter Monday on a 14-game winning streak with every victory coming by double digits. Tennessee, on the other hand, lost two tight road games last week against Vanderbilt and Texas.
