South Carolina women's basketball to host College GameDay for top 5 LSU showdown
South Carolina women’s basketball just played Texas in a top 5 matchup on Sunday (the No. 2 Gamecocks won 67-50). Now, USC is just a week out from another showdown with a top 5 team. The No. 5 LSU Tigers will come to Columbia on January 23rd, and just like the last time the SEC rivals met, College GameDay will be in town. GameDay announced the news on social media on Thursday.
[Win tickets: South Carolina-LSU WBB]
Last year, GameDay went to Baton Rouge to watch Carolina win their 15th in a row over the Bayou Bengals. Later, in the SEC Tournament, the Gamecocks extended that streak to 16 games.
This year’s contest pits Dawn Staley‘s and Kim Mulkey’s squads against each other with first place in the SEC on the line. The Gamecocks already beat the other top conference contender in Texas (though, the two teams will play again in February). A win over LSU will push South Carolina into the SEC driver’s seat.
The Tigers will bring their typical star-led brand of basketball into the game, while the Gamecocks will rely on depth and a well-rounded roster. Four LSU players (Flau’jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow, Mikaylah Williams, and Kailyn Gilbert) average at least 11.6 points per game. Zero players from South Carolina do. However, 10 Gamecocks score at least five points per contest. Te-Hina Paopao (25.2) also is the only USC player to average more than 25 minutes of action. LSU has four players who eclipse that number.
Many around the sport of women’s college basketball call this game a rivalry. That might be true in the sense that there have been some moments of on-court bad blood. However, the results have not been very “rivalry-like.”
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In addition to USC’s 16-game winning streak in the series, in the last 11 seasons, South Carolina has won eight SEC regular season championships. They also have won eight SEC Tournament titles. During that same period, LSU has won zero of either SEC crown. In fact, LSU has just three total SEC regular season championships and two total SEC Tournament titles in their history. The Gamecocks match those numbers just in the past three seasons.
To the Tigers’ credit, they did win the 2022-2023 National Championship (a season in which they lost 88-64 to the Gamecocks in their only meeting). South Carolina, though, has won three titles since the 2016-2017 season. They also finished the 2019-2020, Covid-shortened season as the clear No. 1. No other team has more than one championship during that time.
[Win tickets: South Carolina-Oklahoma WBB]
Despite South Carolina’s dominance in this series, next Thursday’s game is monumental. Assuming both teams handle business against good-but-lesser opponents (Alabama and Oklahoma for South Carolina, Florida for LSU), they will enter this matchup with a combined record of 38-1. The winner will set themselves up well for the top seed in the SEC Tournament and a potential 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament after that.
ESPN will broadcast will broadcast the contest, and the ESPN app will make it available for streaming. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at Colonial Life Arena.
