A’ja Wilson injury update going into road trip against Vanderbilt

South Carolina women’s basketball will most likely remain without its star player Thursday when the No. 10 Gamecocks face Vanderbilt, coach Dawn Staley announced.

Senior forward A’ja Wilson, who suffered an ankle sprain during last Thursday’s matchup with Auburn and missed USC’s weekend defeat to No. 6 Tennessee, was still wearing a walking boot on Wednesday, and although Staley said the 6-foot-5 forward “thinks she’s gonna play, but she probably won’t.”

“Day-to-day. Day-to-day,” Staley said of Wilson’s status. “She’ll go on this trip, she’ll rehab, we’ll evaluate her on Friday to see if she can go on Sunday (against Kentucky).”

Staley also said Wednesday that an MRI revealed that sophomore forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, who left the Tennessee game early after taking a hard fall and landing awkwardly on her leg, had only suffered a bone bruise instead of the more serious ligament damage the Gamecocks had feared when she had to be helped off the court Sunday, unable to put any weight on her injured leg.

Herbert Harrigan is “further out” from returning to play than Wilson, Staley said, and will definitely not play Thursday against the Commodores in Nashville.

That leaves South Carolina with just eight available players and three forwards, including two freshmen in Lele Grissett and LaDazhia Williams.

However, South Carolina is still the heavy favorite over a Vanderbilt team which holds an SEC-worst record of 5-14 and whose only conference win has come against a slumping 9-10 Kentucky team.

And the lack of frontcourt depth for USC could hardly have happened against a league opponent less equipped to take advantage — Vandy ranks at the bottom of the SEC in rebounding margin and second-to-last in blocked shots, and 331st in the NCAA in offensive rebounding rate.

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 4:00 PM.