Who: #1 South Carolina vs. Michigan at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Time/TV: 7:30 pm on TNT/truTV. Grant Hill and Candice Parker will be on the broadcast amongst others.
Line: SC -21. The game opened at 17.5 and was quickly bet up to 21. Total is 134. The Gamecocks are +180 to repeat as National Champions.
History: Carolina leads 3-0 winning the three prior contests by an average of 15.7 pts per game. The Gamecocks are 14-2 in season openers under Dawn Staley. The two programs have not met in the Dawn Staley era.
Last Meeting: December 1, 1995. The Gamecocks won 78-69 in Ann Arbor. Carolina won the only other game contested at a neutral site in 1980 by a score of 84-50.
Scouting the Wolverines
This is supposed to be a rebuilding year for Michigan under longtime coach Kim Barnes Arico. Barnes Arico was an assistant on Staley’s staff that led the U.S. to gold medals in the 2014 FIBA U18 AmeriCup and the 2015 FIBA U19 World Cup. Michigan went 20-14 (9-9 Big Ten) last season and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Laila Phelia was the Wolverines best player last season averaging 16.8 points. She has since transferred to Texas. Second-leading scorer Lauren Hansen, exhausted her eligibility, which is a rarity nowadays in college athletics. The Wolverines only return one of their top seven contributors from last season, Jordan Hobbs. Hobbs is a 6'3 senior guard that averaged 9.8 pts, 4.2 rebounds, and 3 assists last season. She is also a 38% 3-point shooter. The Wolverines did land of one the best duo's from the 2024 recruiting cycle and one of the best classes in school history highlighted by Top 20 players Syla Sword (4th) and Olivia Olson (20th). Michigan's recruiting class was ranked eighth nationally by ESPN.
Michigan is guard oriented team that will play five on the floor at the same time. Michigan brought in three players from the transfer portal in Ally VanTimmeren (Boston College), Brooke Q. Daniels (Oakland) and Yulia Grabovskaia (Middle Tennessee). Daniels has scored the most career points of anyone on the roster, entering her junior season with 758 career points. Over her first two years at Oakland, Daniels averaged 12.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 29.3 minutes per game.
Gamecock Notes
Still nothing yet on Ashlyn Watkin's status. When we learn something we will pass it along. Freshman point guard Maddy McDaniel is also not expected to play tonight after undergoing a minor surgery on her right knee in the offseason. McDaniel was not expected to see a lot of minutes early in the season regardless of her health. Star freshman Joyce Edwards will make her Gamecock debut, expect Edwards to be a Top 5 WNBA pick in four years. Raven Johnson, Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, Chloe Kitts, and Sania Feagin were the starters in both of South Carolina's exhibition wins.
Besides Edwards and McDaniel the only other new face is Maryam Dauda. You can read about Dauda here. While not a new face, Adhel Tac will make her Gamecock debut tonight. She was recovering from knee surgery last season but was with the Gamecocks throughout the majority of the season.
The Gamecocks’ 2024-25 schedule includes 12 games against teams ranked in the preseason national polls. Five of those games are in non-conference action against teams in the top 11. Returning nine of the 11 players from last season’s team, the Gamecocks return 83.9 percent of their scoring from last season, 78.0 percent of their rebounding, 89.0 percent of their assists, 72.1 percent of their blocked shots and 98.4 percent of their 3-pointers. The Gamecocks are 109-3 over the last three seasons.
