South Carolina women’s basketball renews its rivalry with Clemson on Wednesday. Here’s what to watch for and how to watch from the Upstate.
1. All hands on deck
For the first time all season, South Carolina should (hopefully) have all 13 players available. The last time we thought that would happen, before the Coppin State game, Tessa Johnson was a late scratch.
Johnson, who incidentally hurt her ankle in shootaround before last season’s Clemson game, said on Tuesday that she will play against Clemson.
Johnson was one of the Gamecocks’ best players against Michigan but hurt her ankle and hasn’t played since the first half against NC State. Getting Johnson back and getting in a game with a full rotation is a big boost ahead of the UCLA game.
2. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Raven Johnson has struggled to start this season. She is averaging just 3.3 points, 2.5 assists, and 5.8 rebounds while shooting a dismal 17.9%.
Last season against Clemson, Johnson had one of the best games of her career. Johnson had six points, five steals, eight rebounds, and a career-high 17 assists, just one shy of the South Carolina program record.
Maybe another game against the Tigers is what she needs to jumpstart her season.
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3. Dress Rehearsal
For whatever reason, South Carolina tends to play Clemson right before a huge road test. Two years ago, the Clemson game preceded a trip to Stanford. Three years ago, South Carolina hosted Clemson before the Battle 4 Atlantis and top-ten showdowns against Oregon and UConn.
They didn’t play four years ago, but in 2019 the Clemson game again preceded a trip to the Virgin Islands where the young Gamecocks suffered their only loss of the season to Indiana, and then trounced Baylor to announce their arrival.
This season, of course, the trip to Clemson precedes another cross-country trip to play UCLA. That’s followed by a pair of neutral-site games in Florida against #8 Iowa State and Purdue.
“It’s where the schedule had to be,” Staley said. “It’s not preferable, but again, people switched up on us. We got to take games that we don’t normally take, meaning there’s four in a row away from home. We just got to play the schedule that we had to play.”
The Gamecocks haven’t had any issues overlooking the Tigers in the past. In fact, the games have been good opportunities for a little fine-tuning before the bigger games.
4. Streaking
A win over Clemson would set a new program record for consecutive wins. South Carolina has won 42 consecutive games, dating back to the Final Four loss to Iowa in Dallas in 2023. That ties the program record, set from 2022-23.
“To be able to do something that the Freshies have done means that you can do it in a different way,” Staley said. “It’s been much different than the Freshies had done it, but we look forward to being in the company of royalty.”
A 43-game winning streak would be the seventh longest in NCAA history and second longest by an SEC team (Tennessee, 46).
South Carolina and Connecticut are the only programs with multiple 40-game win streaks (Connecticut has four).
South Carolina has won 84 of its last 85 games and is 113-3 over the last four seasons. South Carolina hasn’t lost any game in 600 days and hasn’t lost a regular season game in 1,056 days.
South Carolina has won 13 straight against Clemson, which is by far the longest streak in the series. The next longest was a seven-game winning streak by Clemson from 1996-2001. South Carolina’s streak, which dates back to 2010, is so long that freshman Joyce Edwards doesn’t even think of it as a rivalry.
“I knew USC was always going to win, so it wasn’t really a rivalry. It didn’t really matter to me,” she said somewhat sheepishly. Edwards was three years old the last time Clemson beat South Carolina.
South Carolina has a 32-game road winning streak, the third-longest in NCAA history.
While we’re at it, South Carolina has a 60-game home winning streak, which is the 12th longest in NCAA history.
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5. Scouting the Tigers
Clemson has a new coach, Shawn Poppie, and an almost entirely new roster with 10 new players. The handful of familiar names – Loyal McQueen, Anya Poole, Jordy Griggs – are familiar from their time at other programs.
Poppie wants to space the floor with three-point shooters, create driving lanes, and push the tempo on defense. Clemson hasn’t played strong competition, but the Tigers are still averaging 83.3 points per game, shooting 51.4%, and averaging 7-19 from three.
“They spread you out,” Staley said. “They’ve got nine transfers. Loyal McQueen, who’s a South Carolina favorite. Just a lead guard that does a lot for them, but they do what they do well. They stay within. If you can shoot the three ball, you shoot it. If you’re a downhill driver …. They’re going to put us back on our heels, and we’ve just got to play our defense.”
It’s the third stop for McQueen, the Florence native who began her career at Georgia Tech before playing three seasons at Alabama. She is flourishing in the Upstate, averaging 17.3 points, 6.0 assists, and 3.7 rebounds so far this season.
Mia Moore is the only other Tiger averaging double figures. Also, in her third stop after a season each at Mississippi State and UAB, she is averaging 12.3 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (4-0) at Clemson (3-0)
When: 5:00 pm, Wednesday, November 20
Where: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, SC
Watch: ESPN2
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