Who: #1 South Carolina (22-0) vs. #11 Connecticut (20-4) Columbia, SC

Time/TV: 2:00 on ESPN. South Carolina and LSU drew a huge rating in this time slot on Super Bowl Sunday last season. FOX is running Iowa @ Nebraska at 1:00 with Caitlyn Clark within range of the all-time NCAA scoring record. Don't expect as big of a number as the LSU game drew last season.

Line: Best guess SC -11.5. Total 142.5. Per DraftKings I was pretty close. SC -11 and 141.5 Total.

History: UConn leads 9-4. The Gamecocks have won four of the last five meetings with the Huskies. All but one of those 13 all-time meeting have come during the Dawn Staley Era. South Carolina trails UConn 1-3 in games contested in Columbia. The two teams were slated to meet in Columbia in the 2021-2022 regular season, but that game was cancelled in favor of rescheduling an SEC game that was missed due to Covid. The Gamecock had already beaten UConn in the Bahamas earlier in the season and would cruise in the Championship Game rematch while capturing the programs second National Championship.

Last Meeting: February 5, 2023, South Carolina 81-77, for the program's first ever win at Connecticut. In front of raucous sellout crowd, the Gamecocks erased a 25-14 first quarter deficit behind Aliyah Boston's 26 points and 11 rebounds. 23 of those 26 points came in the second half and 14 came in the 4th quarter. Kamilla Cardoso also posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. South Carolina out-rebounded the Huskies 42-30 and grabbed 25 offensive rebounds. Aaliyah Edwards led UConn with 25 points.

UConn has been plagued with injuries this season. Geno Auriemma's team has lost four players, (Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin, Caroline Ducharme, and Ayanna Patterson), for the season that would have likely been in the top eight of his rotation. Griffin and Fudd were starters. As a result, UConn has relied heavily on a quartet of freshman this season. The best of which has been Ashlynn Shade. The 5'10 guard from Indiana is averaging 29 minutes a game and has made 18 starts. She is averaging 11.2 points per game and hitting 37% of her three-point attempts. Shade was the 15th ranked prospect in the 2023 class. UConn's highest rated recruit from that class was #6, KK Arnold. The 5'9 guard has also made 18 starts and is averaging 9.4 points per game. Arnold is a solid three-point shooter, connecting on 39% of her attempts. Coming off the bench, both Ice Brady and Qadence Samuels are having solid seasons and have appeared in all 24 Husky games. Brady is 6'3 but she plays smaller after missing all of last season with a right knee injury. Samuels is another UConn guard that can hit the three, shooting 34%.

Having covered the new faces, two familiar names are the players that make UConn dangerous, Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards. Bueckers might not be quite the player that she was prior to missing all/part of the last two season with knee injuries, but she is still very good. The former Naismith Player of the Year is averaging 20 points a game and is shooting 45% from three. She also pulls down 4.5 boards a game and has a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio. Edwards is Auriemma's only post threat this season. The senior is averaging 17.7 points and 8.8 rebounds a game. If UConn is going to pull an upset, Edwards is going to need a huge game. Ashlyn Watkins is probably going to draw this assignment, it will be imperative for Watkins to stay out of foul trouble.

As a team, the Huskies are not a great rebounding team. They are 197th in offensive rebounding rate, whereas South Carolina is 9th. UConn boasts of five ranked wins on their resume, however, only Louisville and Creighton are currently ranked. The Huskies have lost to the elite teams they've played. Notre Dame beat UConn by 15 on their home floor. The Irish out-rebounded UConn by 10 and out-athleted the slower Huskies. Connecticut has lost by double-digits at NC State, at Texas, and to UCLA on a neutral floor.

Dawn Staley's bench is getting shorter and shorter as the Gamecocks are at a nine player rotation with Cardoso playing with Team Brazil and Sahnya Jah being suspended. Jah was only averaging 3.1 points a game. South Carolina seemed to use the second half of their blowout win over Missouri to prep for Connecticut. Even without Cardoso, the Gamecocks will have a size advantage on the guard heavy Huskies. The biggest area of concern I saw was Missouri hitting some open threes. As mentioned above, the Huskies have 4-5 players that will hit an open three if Carolina's defense doesn't do a better job of rotating. Missouri also has no one in the post near the caliber of Edwards. If Edwards is neutralized or picks up some early fouls, UConn also has no other post player near the caliber of Edwards. Expect the Gamecocks to attack Edwards early and try to pick up some cheap fouls.

If Cardoso was available I don't think this game would be close. Without her patrolling the paint, the Gamecocks will need the Watkins/Kitts/Feagin combo to stay out of foul trouble and keep UConn from getting any second chance points. Outside of Edwards, UConn is a team that plays small - those teams haven't faired well against the Gamecocks this season. Carolina 81-70.