South Carolina vs. Texas WBB: Tipoff time, TV channel, injury report, odds
All the eyes of the women’s basketball world will be on Colonial Life Arena Thursday night.
South Carolina and Texas are squaring off in a top-five rematch in prime time on national television.
Dawn Staley and the No. 2 Gamecocks are 10-game winning streak and looking to avenge their lone loss of the season that came back in November to Texas. Meanwhile, Vic Schaefer and the No. 4 Longhorns are looking to get back in the win column after losing their first game to LSU on Sunday.
Here’s everything you need to know about Thursday’s game:
South Carolina vs Texas: What time, TV channel
- Who: No. 2 South Carolina (17-1, 4-0 SEC) vs No. 4 Texas (18-1, 3-1 SEC)
- When: 7 p.m. Thursday
- Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC
- TV: ESPN2
- Stream: ESPN.com or the ESPN app
- Broadcast crew: Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe
- Local radio crew: Brad Muller
- Satellite radio: Sirius XM Channel 81 or the Sirius XM app
- Series history: South Carolina leads 5-4 (Texas won last meeting 66-64 in Nov. 2025)
South Carolina vs Texas betting odds
South Carolina is a favorite to beat Texas, according to a few separate outlets.
ESPN’s Analytics gave the Gamecocks at a 62.6% chance of beating the Longhorns. BartTorvik.com, a college basketball analytics site, gives South Carolina a 60% chance to beat Texas and has the Gamecocks as a 2.7-point favorite.
Injury updates
South Carolina has dealt with the injury bug this entire season, but Staley said everyone is “healthy and ready to go” for Thursday’s matchup with Texas.
Texas will continue to be without freshman guard Aaliyah Crump against South Carolina. Crump has been dealing with a foot injury and hasn’t played since Nov. 19. She was listed as out on Wednesday night’s SEC official injury report.
Top storylines for the game
Familiar foes: Thursday will be the sixth time South Carolina and Texas have played each other in just over a year (369 days, to be exact). The teams played one another four times last year, twice in the regular season and twice in the postseason. The fifth matchup came in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas this season in November. South Carolina went 3-1 against Texas last year but is off to a 0-1 start against the Longhorns in 2025-26 after the Gamecocks lost a close one in Vegas.
A special debut: South Carolina fans, rejoice! Alicia Tournebize, the 6-foot-7 French forward who signed with the Gamecocks in December, is set to make her debut against Texas. Staley announced the news Wednesday, saying she would “definitely” play against the Longhorns. Tournebize is a versatile player who brings an immediate boost on both sides of the ball off the bench. Everyone in attendance at Colonial Life Arena should be on dunk alert, because she can do that, too.
How will the bench units impact the game? South Carolina and Texas carry loaded rosters. In the last matchup between the two, though, both teams relied heavily on their starters. USC’s starting five played an average of 33.8 minutes in the game, and its bench only contributed two points. Texas on the other hand had three starters play 40 minutes and two bench players nearly replace two starters in the game by playing 29 and 32 minutes, respectively. Both teams’ bench units have developed in the months since keeping drop-offs in production limited when the starters come out will be crucial to the game’s outcome.
Seeding implications: There is still lots of basketball to be played after Thursday, but the outcome of South Carolina-Texas will have implications on the postseason. The winner will have a leg up on securing the top seed in the SEC Tournament once March rolls around. Granted, both teams have strong competition remaining on the schedule. It could also impact how both teams are seeded come time for March Madness. Another loss for either team Thursday (and beyond) could knock them down from the one-seed line in the NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina and Texas players to watch
South Carolina forward Madina Okot: Staley said at the start of this season she needs Okot to be dominant for the Gamecocks, and so far she’s been just that. The 6-foot-5 senior currently leads the country with 13 double-doubles on the season. Okot is averaging 15.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game while leading the SEC with a 60.9% shooting clip. She’ll have her hands full with players like Breya Cunningham and Kyla Oldacre in the paint for Texas on Thursday but will certainly be a formidable foe.
South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson: The nation’s leading scorer a year ago returned from a three-game absence due to injury on Sunday. Latson tied with Joyce Edwards with a team-high 16 points in the loss to Texas in November. Her scoring, and offensive production in general, will be important for a win this time around. Latson is averaging 16.3 points per game and has career-high marks in field goal percentage (50.9%) and 3-point percentage
Texas forward Madison Booker: Last year’s SEC Player of the Year scored 16 points in Texas’ win over South Carolina in November. Booker is averaging a career-high 14.6 field goal attempts per game, so it’ll be vital for the Gamecocks to limit the amount of looks she gets while making the shot attempts she does get off difficult. Booker is currently posting a career-high 19.2 points per game and leads the SEC with a 84.8% free-throw percentage mark.
Texas guard Jordan Lee: The sophomore had minimal impact on the stat sheet in her first three games against South Carolina, but the last two matchups are different stories. Lee scored 16 in a loss to the Gamecocks in the Final Four last year and led Texas with 19 points in the Longhorns’ November win. Lee has started all but one game for Texas this year and is averaging 14.8 points per game as a sophomore after she scored just 5.7 points per game her freshman year.
