What to watch for in No. 3 South Carolina’s important SEC battle with No. 19 Tennessee
Colonial Life Arena will play host to a pivotal SEC women’s basketball matchup on Sunday afternoon.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks will face No. 19 Tennessee in a game that will be televised nationally (ABC, 3 p.m.)
South Carolina (23-3, 9-1 SEC) enters the game on a four-game win streak; the Volunteers (15-5, 7-1 SEC) just snapped a brief losing skid earlier this week.
Here are a few key things to know before the big game.
Injury updates
The jury is still out on whether South Carolina will be missing a few players for Sunday’s game.
Ta’Niya Latson and Agot Makeer have been absent the last two games after leaving South Carolina’s matchup with Auburn on Jan. 29 early with injuries. ESPN’s broadcast of Monday’s game between the Gamecocks and Texas A&M said both players have lower leg injuries.
Both Latson and Makeer were out for South Carolina’s win over Mississippi State on Thursday. Latson was listed as questionable on the SEC injury report Wednesday night before eventually being downgraded to out in pregame.
Tessa Johnson missed the second half of Thursday’s game. Staley said Johnson was “banged up” and sore, so the coaching staff held her out for rest after South Carolina built up a big lead at halftime over Mississippi State.
On Friday, Staley was asked if there was anyone definitely out for the Tennessee game. She provided a seemingly positive update, but it wasn’t necessarily a straight answer.
“Definitely out, two days out [from the game],” Staley said, repeating the reporter. After a brief pause, she said, “Everybody’s full go for right now.”
Staley hasn’t really been one to provide in-depth injury updates, especially during SEC play when there is a league-mandated injury report. For example, when Staley was asked about Latson and Makeer on Thursday, she laughed and said Latson was questionable.
That being said, things can change in 24 hours, so it’s not impossible that everyone is healthy and ready to go for Sunday. An official answer will come Saturday night when the first SEC injury report for the Tennessee game is released around 8:10 p.m.
Scouting report on Tennessee
Tennessee enters Sunday’s matchup fresh off a close Top 25 win over Georgia earlier this week. The Volunteers are 15-5 overall and 7-1 in SEC play.
Head coach Kim Caldwell runs an unusual scheme at Tennessee. The Volunteers sub often and use several different starting lineups (17 total this year) to fuel its fast-paced offense and its defense, which is highlighted by a constant full court press.
Staley and the Gamecocks handled the press relatively well last year, and the 70-63 win probably would’ve been bigger had Tennessee not made a run late. Staley said key to fighting the press will be to limit turnovers and issues on inbound passes. She used a football analogy Friday to expand on the idea.
“It’s a read, it’s like you’re a quarterback,” Staley said. “You got to see what the free safety is doing. You got to see where they are on the floor. And you have to look beyond the lineman because you know they’re coming. So it’s just that, it’s about decision making. It’s about knowing who you’re seeing and how to get the ball to where it needs to go. And that’s hard when someone’s really good at pressing. … We’re trying to prepare our players as much as possible and then hopefully they can handle it.”
Tennessee is led by a talented guard in Talayisa Cooper. The South Carolina native started her career with the Gamecocks in 2022 before transferring to Tennessee after a season. In Cooper’s second year with the Volunteers, she’s averaging 14.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Mia Pauldo is another player to watch for the Volunteers. The 5-foot-6 freshman is averaging 12.2 points and has the potential to affecgt the game on both sides of the ball, Staley said. Janiah Barker has also been an impactful addition for Tennessee this year. The 6-foot-4 forward was the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year last season at UCLA and is averaging 13.8 points and leads the Volunteers with 6.9 rebounds per game.
South Carolina is currently on an eight-game win streak over Tennessee, but the Volunteers lead the all-time series 49-16. The last time Tennessee beat the Gamecocks in Columbia was in 2018.
What this game means for SEC standings
Like just about every game remaining on South Carolina’s schedule, Sunday’s matchup comes with SEC standing implications.
Tennessee and South Carolina are the lone teams in the SEC with just one loss in conference play.
A win for the Gamecocks would give them a leg up on the rest of the league ahead of the final five games of the season. A loss would drop South Carolina down into a three-way tie for second in the SEC with Texas and Vanderbilt (assuming both win Sunday, that is), who both have two conference losses. Although probably not ideal, the Gamecocks would win the tiebreaker in that case since South Carolina has conference wins over Texas and Vanderbilt.
That being said, there’s still plenty of basketball to be played after Sunday. As a result, there are still lots of hypothetical scenarios in which a win or even a loss against Tennessee wouldn’t quite end South Carolina’s hunt for an SEC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.
A win over Tennessee would continue to allow South Carolina to hold control over its own destiny in the SEC ahead of a big matchup with LSU next week.
How to watch South Carolina WBB vs Tennessee
- Who: No. 3 South Carolina vs. No. 19 Tennessee
- When: Sunday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.
- Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina
- TV: ABC (Beth Mowins, Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe)
- Radio: 107.5 FM (Brad Muller)
