South Carolina Women’s Basketball: #6 Gamecocks play host to #9 UCLA

#6 South Carolina Gamecocks vs. #9 UCLA Bruins

When: Sunday, December 18th @ 2:00 p.m.
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
How to watch: ESPN2 (Dave O’Brien, play-by-play; Doris Burke, analyst
How to listen: 107.5 The Game (Brad Muller)

Three Point Preview

1. Sunday will be the Gamecocks third top-ten matchup before the Holiday and pre-conference play. The Gamecocks come into the game 2-0 in such games, with a season opening 92-80 victory over Ohio St. in Columbus, OH and an 83-59 trouncing of Louisville in Springfield, MA in late November. If the Gamecocks can notch a victory over the Bruins, it’ll be their fourth win over a ranked opponent in the season’s first 10 games.
2. The Gamecocks 2016 success thus far can be summed up into four players: the twin bigs of Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson and the two transfer guards Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray. The quartet account for the 60.9 points per game for the Gamecock women, or nearly 73% of South Carolina’s average scoring output. While Coates and Wilson bully opponents down low to a +109 rebound margin this season and 62% field goal shooting, the transfer guards have bolstered the Gamecocks outside shooting game, averaging a 38.5% three point success rate.
3. There’s not much history between these two teams, seeing as the first legitimate matchup came last season. The Gamecocks won that one at Pauley Pavilion 68-65 in a pre-Thanksgiving matchup. The two teams met one other time in 1981 in Columbia, but South Carolina ended up having to forfeit due playing an ineligible player. A win Sunday afternoon would improve the Gamecocks to 12-3 against ranked opponents since the 2014-15 season.