#5 South Carolina was able to resume team activities Saturday evening and will face #10 Kentucky Sunday.

1. Pandemic blues

This game was in jeopardy until about 5:12 Saturday evening. That’s when Dawn Staley tweeted, “LET’S ROLL!!!”

South Carolina had to postpone Thursday’s game against Georgia following a positive COVID test. Two subsequent rounds of testing came back negative, and the Gamecocks just needed that third round to come back negative on Saturday.

They quickly assembled for practice (it was already tentatively scheduled for 5:00 pm in anticipation of the negative tests results). That was the only practice - or work of any kind - the Gamecocks have had since Wednesday. The team has met virtually to go over the game plan against Kentucky, but Friday’s practice was the only chance to put it into action.

The plan is for South Carolina to fly to Kentucky Sunday morning, play the game, and then fly back.

“You’re just waiting in anticipation,” Staley said. “It’s par for course being in the COVID season.”

2. Full roster

Reserve guard Destiny Littleton, who missed the Florida and Alabama games and would have missed the Georgia game, is available against Kentucky (assuming, you know, there is a game). This season Littleton is averaging 3.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and an assist in 12.5 minutes per game, but more importantly South Carolina needs all hands on deck. Other than Saturday’s practice, players haven’t been able to work out since Wednesday. Staley expects that players will not quite be in game shape.

It doesn’t help that South Carolina is facing a deep Kentucky team. On top of that, the playbook on beating Kentucky - the one South Carolina used so effectively last season and Texas A&M used in a comfortable win earlier this week - is to tire out the Wildcats. That’s harder to do when you aren’t in top shape yourself.

“We’ve been off for three days, literally off, so we have to get our stamina up,” Staley said.

3. Familiar foes

Playing a road game against the #10 team after being shut down for three days and having only one practice isn’t ideal, but at least South Carolina and Kentucky are very familiar with each other. They face each other twice a year, so they know each others’ tendencies and personnel.

“They run somewhat similar plays that they’ve run in the past,” Staley said. “We know the plays, it’s just sometimes you’ve got to get timing down.”

Last season, in the first meeting South Carolina routed Kentucky in a game that became known for the Kool-Aid reference. The second game in Lexington was closer. The biggest difference between the games was tempo. South Carolina dictated it in the first game, Kentucky in the second.

“You have to make a team like Kentucky play you on both sides of the ball,” Staley said. “We have to figure out ways in which we get our posts involved and get them involved very quickly. I do think we have an advantage in that area. The very biggest thing is keeping them from shooting and making a lot of three-point baskets. We can’t trade those baskets with them.”

4. Not all about Rhyne

The past couple of seasons Kentucky has been the Rhyne Howard show. She had little help as a freshman, and then more last season, but this season, thanks in part to the transfer waiver, she has a lot of help. New coach Kyra Elzy, who took over for Matthew Mitchell on an interim basis and has since been named the full-time head coach, was instrumental in recruiting Howard and then assembling talent around her.

“They’re deep,” Staley said. “(Elzy)’s got a roster full of All-Americans that she’s got to find time for. That makes them stronger, that makes them incredibly deep. They all do different things so you’ve got to scout all of them.”

Those players include Chasity Patterson, who is averaging 13.3 points. Transfer Dre’una Edwards, the former Pac-12 freshman of the year who is averaging 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. Another transfer, Robyn Benton, made the SEC all-freshman team at Auburn. Tennessee transfer Jazmine Massengill is now eligible. Maryland transfer Olivia Owens is healthy again after two injury-plagued seasons. There are veterans Blair Green and KeKe McKinney, the rare non-transfers. And freshman Treasure Hunt was someone South Carolina recruited heavily.

“Luckily for us, only five can play at once,” Staley said.

5. Scouting the Wildcats

All that being said, it’s still all about Rhyne.

She was the preseason SEC Player of the Year, won it last season, and was a unanimous preseason All-America. Her scoring is down slightly from last season, but that’s a good thing since they are up elsewhere. Howard is averaging 19.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.

And when the games are tight - and Kentucky has played a lot of close fourth quarters - Kentucky still turns to Howard. In comeback wins over Mississippi State and Indiana it worked. Howard was sensational. But in the loss to Texas A&M earlier this week it backfired. The rest of the Wildcats watched as an exhausted Howard tried but was unable to do everything.

The Aggies had followed the game plan established earlier by the Gamecocks. They made Howard work on defense and then made sure she didn’t get easy looks on offense. A year ago, the Gamecocks attacked Howard by running plays for Brea Beal early and often. And then as soon as Beal showed the slightest sign of fatigue, LeLe Grissett replaced her. Howard still scored points once the game was a blowout, but she also turned the ball over a bunch and her teammates became non-factors.

“She’s such a great player,” Staley said. “She plays at her own speed, and that speed is seeing every option out there on the floor and taking the right option. We have to speed her up, make her play faster, make her make decisions quicker. We need to exhaust her, make her play both sides of the floor.”

The Ws

Who: #5 South Carolina (7-1, 2-0) vs #10 Kentucky (9-2, 2-1)

When: Sunday, January 10, 5:00 pm

Where: Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, KY

Watch: ESPN