Who: #2 South Carolina (10-1) vs. Charleston Southern (4-8). Columbia, SC

Time/TV: 12:00 streaming on SECN+.

Line: Will update when a line is available. Best guess SC -50.5, Total 141.5

History: South Carolina leads 8-0 and 3-0 under Dawn Staley. Most of these games have not been close. South Carolina beat the Bucs by four in 1999, the next closest game was 2010 when USC won by 22.

Last Meeting: December 18, 2022. Carolina 87-23. Carolina held Charleston So to just 8-of-50 from the field and out-rebounded the Bucs 53-22. Five Gamecocks scored in double-figures with Zia Cooke leading the way with 16. The score was 59-11 after the fourth quarter.

Charleston Southern has played two Top-25 teams this season, LSU and UNC. They lost in Baton Rouge 117-44 and fell by 30 in Chapel Hill. The Buccaneers are sitting at #321 of 362 in the NET Rankings. This game should not be in doubt from the opening tip.

Junior guard Catherine Alben is the Bucs leading scoring at 13.5 points per game. Alben did hit double-digits against both UNC and LSU. The leading rebounder is 6'4 forward Saniya Jones. She is pulling down 5.3 boards a game.

Charleston Southern shoots just 26% from the three-point line. After starting the campaign at 1-6, the Bucs have been playing better the last three weeks winning three of their last five. During that stretch they had wins over a solid North Dakota State team as well as South Alabama and SC State.

South Carolina finishes the 2024 calendar year with Wofford at home. The first two SEC games are on the road, at Missouri and Mississippi State. The Gamecocks will be a heavy in all three of those games. although Columbia. Missouri has given the Gamecocks trouble in the past. The Magnolia State Bulldogs are also sitting at 11-1 with their only loss coming to 11-0 Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Gamecock get A&M at home next before a crucial stretch begins.

Old pal Vic Schaefer returns to Columbia with his Top 6 Texas Longhorns on January 11. The Gamecocks then travel to 10-1 Alabama before back-to-back home games with #10 Oklahoma and #5 LSU. South Carolina then closes January out with a trip to Knoxville against a much improved 18th ranked Lady Vols squad.

February is not as daunting but still includes road trips to Texas and Ole Miss and the annual mid-February UConn showdown in Columbia. The Gamecocks will have put uneven performances like USF behind them if they are going to get through the next two months unscathed.