Who: #1 South Carolina (28-1, 15-1) vs. Ole Miss (23-7, 10-6)

Time/TV: 5:00 PM ESPNU

Line: Not one as of the time of this writing. Best guess SC -16.5, Total 126.5

History: All-time SC leads 27-17, AD, (After Dawn), SC leads 14-2. Ole Miss is 4-2 against the Gamecocks in the SEC Tournament but the last meeting between in this event was in 2011. The Gamecocks have won the last 15 meetings.

Last Meeting: February 27, 2022, The Gamecocks won that one 71-57 in Oxford. A month earlier South Carolina downed the Rebels 69-40 in Columbia.

South Carolina and reigning SEC Tournament MVP Aliyah Boston jumped on Arkansas early and then added a little more late in route to a 76-54 win. Ole Miss held off a pesky and short-handed Florida team 70-60. As great as Boston was, 17 points, 14 boards, 5 assists, and 5 steals, Shakira Austin went for 27 points, 13 boards, and 6 blocks.

Dawn Staley was able to go to the bench early and keep Boston and Destanni Henderson off the court for large chunks of the game. Meanwhile, Ole Miss had 6 players play double-digit minutes. The Gamecocks are the deeper and fresher team.

Obviously Boston vs Austin is the headliner eventhough the two stars have rarely guarded each other during the first two matchups. The Gamecocks will use Victoria Saxton, Laetitia Amihere, and Kamilla Cardoso to cover Austin. The Rebels do not have the post depth that the Gamecocks do, really no one outside of Stanford does, so Austin can't afford to pick up fouls guarding Boston. She should continue her double-double streak.

During their first matchup in Columbia, the Gamecocks center went for 22 and 17. Austin had 15 and 7. The second matchup wasn't as one-sided, the POTY frontrunner had 15 and 14. Austin had a better game going for 20 and 7. Henderson took over the 4th quarter as the Rebels ran out of gas late in Oxford.

The Gamecocks will want to be up comfortably late, (like that is never not the goal), this tournament is not in Greenville. The crowd will be pro Tennessee and the closer to the tip it gets to the Vols/Cats nightcap, more seats will be filled with extra wide backsides donning that ugly shade of orange. The crowd will get behind the underdog if the Rebels are within shouting distance.

Quick epilogue. How great was it to see Kim Mulkey meltdown in her first SEC Tournament game, and loss? Also Boston, Henderson, and Austin will be joined by Kentucky's Rhyne Howard, who went for 32 points in their upset win over LSU, on the All-Tournament team. Going with the hot hand here, Kentucky over Tennessee.