LAS VEGAS, NV – No. 2/2 South Carolina women’s basketball plays in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas this week, facing Duke on Wed., Nov. 26, and either #3/3 UCLA or #4/4 Texas on Thu., Nov. 27. Both games will be at Michelob Ultra Arena and broadcast on TruTV.
Gamecock Notables
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Head coach Dawn Staley has built South Carolina into a national powerhouse, taking the Gamecocks to the NCAA Final Four each of the last five seasons and winning two of their three trips to the national championship game in that time. The Gamecocks have finished the season ranked in the top three in the nation five times in the last six seasons, and their current run of 121 consecutive entries in the AP top 10 is the longest active streak in the nation.
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South Carolina went 5-2 against the other three teams in the Players Era Championship field in last season alone and are a combined 17-3 against them in the Staley era (since 2008-09).
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Defense has long been the Gamecocks’ calling card, and this season is no different with no opponent reaching the 60-point mark to put them 11th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 49.2 points per game. Low scoring comes from creating inefficiency as South Carolina leads the nation in field goal percentage defense at .270.
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With three 100-point games this season, the Gamecocks are fifth in the country with 94.8 points per game and second in the nation in field goal percentage at .565. Thanks to a steady defensive effort, South Carolina can also win low-scoring outings with two victories this season coming after scoring in the 60s.
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South Carolina is third in the country with a +20.7 rebounding average. Over the last three games, including a win over #8/10 Southern Cal, that number jumps to +24.0. For the season, the Gamecocks’ 48.7 rebounds per game are 11th-best in the country.
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National player of the year candidate Joyce Edwards has been dominant in just her sophomore season, ranking 31st in the nation and third in the SEC with 19.8 points per game, which she is scoring on 61.3 percent shooting, which ranks 29th in the country.
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AP Preseason All-American and national player of the year candidate Ta’Niya Latson has become a more efficient scorer with the Gamecocks, ranking 36th in the nation with a .600 field goal percentage, which has yielded 18.2 points per game to rank her sixth in the SEC. She was named a USBWA National Player of the Week after averaging 24.0 points on 77.3 percent shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, last week.
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Senior Madina Okot is beginning to be comfortable anchoring the paint for South Carolina, averaging 18.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in last week’s wins. She is second in the nation with four double-doubles and her 10.8 rebounds per game on the season are 15th in the country.
By the Numbers
4 – Four different Gamecocks have at least one double-double this season.
56.6 – South Carolina has scored 56.6 percent of its points this season in the paint.
90.6 – The Gamecocks have won 90.6 percent of their games against ranked opponents in the last five seasons (48-5).
Against the Field
South Carolina has a lot of recent history with the three other teams in this year’s Players Era Championship, including a combined 5-2 record against Duke, Texas and UCLA in the 2024-25 season alone.
The Gamecocks are 9-2 overall against Duke, including an 8-1 mark in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09). The two teams met twice last season with the Gamecocks winning the regular-season meeting in Columbia 81-70 (Dec. 5) and later advancing to the NCAA Final Four with a 54-50 win over the Blue Devils in Birmingham (Mar. 30).
South Carolina is 5-3 all-time against Texas, including a 5-1 mark in the Staley era. In the Longhorns’ first season in the SEC, the two teams had a rare four meetings with the Gamecocks winning three times. The teams split the regular-season series with each winning on its home court. After tying for the SEC regular-season title, the two squared off in the SEC Tournament title game. The Gamecock defense blew the game open with a 21-6 second quarter to claim South Carolina’s ninth SEC Tournament title in the last 11 seasons with a 64-45 victory (Mar. 9). Less than a month later, the Gamecocks and Longhorns squared off again in the NCAA Final Four (Apr. 4) in Tampa. After a tight first half, South Carolina locked down defensively in the third, winning the period 20-9 to cruise to a 74-57 victory and a spot in the national championship game for the second-straight season and the third time in four seasons.
Against UCLA, the Gamecocks are 4-2 overall and 4-1 in the Staley era. The lone loss in that stretch came last season when the Bruins were relentless in the first half at Pauley Pavilion in a 77-62 victory (Nov. 24).
Ranked Readings
Against ranked teams, South Carolina is 133-71 (.652) 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 118-32 (.787) against ranked teams, including a 48-5 (.906) mark since the start of the 2021-22 season.
This season, South Carolina won their first game against a ranked foe 69-52 vs. #8/10 Southern Cal.
Block Party
The Gamecocks have been a premier shot blocking program since their first national championship in 2017. They ranked in the top 15 in blocks per game that season and have only climbed higher in the eight subsequent seasons, including four years leading the nation in the stat and twice coming in second. Beyond the number of blocks, the team’s block percentage has led the nation three seasons.
So far this season, South Carolina has blocked 21.7 percent of its opponents’ two-point attempts, which ranks third in the nation according to Her Hoop Stats. The Gamecocks’ 8.8 blocks per game rank second in the nation, and five players have at least five blocks.
Madina Okot tops the individual list with 2.0 blocks per game to rank 30th in the nation and fourth in the SEC. Joyce Edwards is not far behind at 1.8 per game (7th SEC).
