No. 3 South Carolina will travel to Baton Rouge for a Saturday night game against No. 6 LSU, continuing a series of high-profile matchups between the two programs. The contest at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ABC, with ESPN’s College Game Day coverage beginning at 8 p.m.
This meeting marks the fifth consecutive time that both South Carolina and LSU are ranked in the top ten when facing each other, and it is their fourth encounter on Valentine’s Day.
South Carolina has performed well against ranked opponents this season, holding a 6-2 record, including a 3-1 mark against teams in the top ten. This matchup will be their first road game this season against another top-ten team.
The Gamecocks lead the SEC in both field goal percentage (.482) and field goal percentage defense (.355) during conference play. They have shot at least 50 percent from the field in six of their eleven SEC games so far, including five of their last six contests. In their most recent games against ranked conference opponents, they shot over 60 percent from the field and more than 50 percent from three-point range. Only three SEC teams have managed to shoot above 40 percent against South Carolina.
South Carolina’s success continues to rely heavily on scoring inside. While they rank eighth nationally in three-point shooting at .379, they are outscoring SEC opponents by an average of 17.1 points per game in the paint and have only been outscored inside once this season.
Joyce Edwards, considered a Player of the Year candidate, is averaging 20.4 points per game (15th nationally) with a .606 field goal percentage (eighth nationally). She has scored at least 20 points in her last four games while averaging nearly four assists per contest during that span.
Senior point guard Raven Johnson has contributed significantly against ranked opponents, being involved in over thirty percent of South Carolina’s total offense through her scoring and assists.
Junior guard Tessa Johnson ranks fifth nationally in three-point percentage (46.4 percent), with higher efficiency when playing against ranked opponents.
Senior center Madina Okot recently returned to the starting lineup and has recorded two double-doubles in her last two games, bringing her season total to fifteen—sixth highest nationally.
Freshman Ayla McDowell has averaged nearly eight points per game over her last five outings while shooting better than fifty percent from the floor.
In its series history with LSU, South Carolina trails narrowly but has dominated during head coach Dawn Staley’s tenure, winning eighteen of twenty-three meetings since she took over before the 2008-09 season—including seventeen straight wins overall and seven out of ten games played in Baton Rouge under Staley’s leadership.
The most recent matchup between these teams was on January 24, 2025; then-No.2 South Carolina defeated then-No.5 LSU by holding them to just under thirty percent shooting for the game and generating twenty-two points off turnovers despite being outrebounded by twelve boards.
Historically, South Carolina holds an all-time road record above .500 but has achieved greater success under Staley with a .756 road winning percentage since she became head coach. In Southeastern Conference road games during her tenure, that figure stands at .750.
Dawn Staley is currently serving her twenty-sixth year as a collegiate head coach and holds one of the nation’s highest active career winning percentages (.778). She ranks among the top coaches all-time with three NCAA championships—a distinction shared by only a handful of coaches—and is notable as one of only two women’s basketball coaches to lead multiple forty-game win streaks.
Now leading South Carolina for her eighteenth season, Staley is both its all-time wins leader (499) and responsible for all fourteen postseason appearances as well as every Final Four trip in program history. She remains highly regarded both within college basketball circles and throughout Columbia, where a statue honors her contributions near Colonial Life Arena.
