No. 3 South Carolina WBB hosts No. 8 Duke today: How to watch, what to know
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 South Carolina women’s basketball team will put their record-setting 61-game home winning streak on the line when they host No. 8 Duke in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Thursday night.
Here’s everything you need to know about the contest, including how to watch, top storylines and more:
South Carolina basketball game
Who: No. 8 Duke (8-1) at No. 3 South Carolina (7-1)
When: Thursday, 9 p.m.
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina
What channel is it on?
The game will be broadcast on ESPN (Courtney Lyle, play-by-play; Carolyn Peck, analyst). You can listen on the radio on 107.5 FM in the Columbia area, and on satellite radio on SiriusXM Channel 119 or 190.
TOP STORYLINES FOR THE GAME
▪ Top 10 showdown
Duke will be South Carolina’s fourth ranked matchup of the season. USC has defeated No. 9 N.C. State and No. 15 Iowa State, while falling to No. 5 UCLA — its first loss since the 2023 Final Four.
After this, USC has to travel to take on another top 10 team in No. 9 TCU on Sunday. The schedule for Staley and her team will not be easy this week.
“Our luck is we get a top 10 team in the country on our court in a late game, and we gotta be ready to go,” Staley said.
Duke is coming off two ranked wins against Top 10 teams at the end of November over Kansas State and Oklahoma.
“They play for 40 minutes,” Staley said of Duke. “They’re very calculating in who they want the shots to come from.”
▪ Need to play well
The most productive aspect of this year’s Gamecocks squad is how deep it is. South Carolina’s bench ranks second in the nation with 40.6 points per game, which is over 50% of the offense this season. Scoring has come from all over the roster.
“I think the thing for us: We have to score,” Staley said. “We have to be disciplined in taking good shots.”
Players like Tessa Johnson, who has averaged 11.3 points over the last three games off the bench, returned from injury and provided a much-needed shot in the arm for USC offensively.
Staley said the team played much better in their dominating wins over Iowa State and Purdue.
“I like the way we played on both sides of the ball for long, long, long stretches of the game,” Staley said. “We just need to pile it up, continue to play that way.”
▪ Teddy Bear Toss
Thursday’s game will also feature this year’s Teddy Bear Toss. Each year, USC hosts a game for charity where it encourages fans to bring teddy bears to toss onto the court at halftime. The Gamecocks will distribute them to various hospitals and other charities.
The other option fans have is to bring a new blanket to donate at the door for local shelters.
