Who: #1 South Carolina (26-0, 13-0) at Kentucky (11-16, 4-9). Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY.

Time/TV: 3:00 pm on SEC Network

Line: SC -37.5, Total 140.5

History: Carolina leads the series 40-35. USC has won nine of the last ten meetings and 18 of the last 20. Kentucky holds a 20-14 edge in games played in Lexington. Carolina is 24-11 against the Wildcats under Dawn Staley. With Memorial Coliseum undergoing renovations (hopefully to include an AC unit), Kentucky has played most of their games at the mammoth Rupp Arena this season. While the Gamecocks may have played at Rupp several times, the last time I recall was 2014, when #4 South Carolina set a then single-season wins record with 24 in a 81-58 blowout of #15 Kentucky. In that game, Aleighsa Welch was the star for Carolina, scoring 21 points, taking down 10 boards, and blocking 5 shots.

Last Meeting: January 15, 2024, South Carolina rolled UK 98-36. This game will best be remembered for South Carolina's first ever dunk in an SEC contest when Ashlyn Watkins. The game was still close, a 15-11 Gamecock edge, when Watkins stole the ball on the UK perimeter and went the length of the court for the slam. UK never recovered and the rout was on. Six Gamecocks scored in double figures when Te-Hina Paopao and MiLaysia Fulwiley leading the way with 14 point a piece.

Kentucky is playing their basketball of the season right now. After losing six consecutive SEC games, the Cats have won their last two beating Florida, and more impressively, Mississippi State in Starkville. Former Gamecock Eniya Russell led UK with 24 in the win over the Gators. Saniah Tyler exploded for 22 points off the bench in Cats triumph over Miss State.

The Wildcat program hasn't been able to sustain the success under Head Coach Kyra Elzy that it had under former coach Matthew Mitchell. Under Mitchell, Kentucky made the NCAA Tournament eight straight years and nine times in 13 years (Mitchell's last season was the 2019-2020 year where the NCAA Tournament was cancelled). Three of those season's ended in the Elite 8. Mitchell won 69% of his games coached and 63% in the SEC. Elzy made the tournament her first two seasons, but the bottom fell out last year when Kentucky finished just 12-18 and 2-14 in the SEC. This season wasn't looking any better until last week.

he Wildcats woes aren't a product of the play of Ajae Petty, (think a poor's man Angel Reese).Petty, the 6'3 senior forward, is an LSU transfer that left the program once Reese arrived. She is having an All-SEC type season with 14.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Petty has posted double-doubles in eight of Kentucky's SEC games. Petty's stats could be more gaudy but she's a poor foul shooter hitting only 53%. The Gamecocks held Petty to the worst game of the season with two points and five boards in their prior meeting. Joining Petty with a double-figure scoring average is guard Maddie Scherr. The senior guard averages 13.2 a contest. She's UK's best deep shooter but still only hits a tick under 30% of her attempts. The aforementioned Russell is averaging a career-high 10.1 points and 3.4 rebounds a game.

Despite the better recent play, Kentucky is still 143rd in the NET Rankings and with South Carolina, LSU, and Ole Miss remaining on the schedule, UK should be earmarked for the opening day of the SEC Tournament.

Kamilla Cardoso is expected to play today after having the night off against Alabama. The Gamecocks have looked sluggish for extended portions of every game following the UConn blowout. Following that win, Carolina trailed both Tennessee and a bad Georgia team at halftime. The good news is that after the next three SEC games, the Gamecocks will get break until noon on Friday March 8th. Carolina has already clinched the #1 seed in the SEC Tournament. They can clinch the outright conference title with a win today or a LSU loss.

Sahnya Jah's status has not changed. She is still suspended indefinitely "for conduct detrimental to the team." Jah has been spotted in the student section attending Carolina's games. Staley commented at the time of the suspension that there was a process for Jah to return.

Thursday’s win was also the 600th career win for head coach Dawn Staley, who needed just 104 games to go from 500 wins to 600. Staley’s .763 winning percentage is seventh among the 20 active coaches with at least 600 career victories.