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It’s been a successful season for the Gamecocks thus far. They hope that it carries on today against the Duke Blue Devils in a 2pm tipoff at Cameron Indoor Stadium. After this one, the team heads back to Columbia for exams and won’t play against until a week from today - December 11 - when they host Minnesota.
Start time: 2pm
TV: None | Live stream: ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.com
Live audio: 1320 The Fan (Columbia)/Gamecock IMG Sports Network (Brad Muller)
The last game was all A’ja Wilson. She dropped a career-high 31 points in a 76-67 win over #14 Texas in Austin. It was a little white-knuckle at time, but it was a game that the Gamecocks were able to pull out to improve to 6-0 on the young season. Wilson’s performance offset slow nights by Alaina Coates, Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray, but it’s a good sign to see this team winning games even with three of their top four players struggling.
Duke is led by Joanne P. McCallie. The Blue Devils struggled (by their standards) to a 20-12 record and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993-94, and only the fourth time McCallie has missed the Big Dance in 24 years of coaching. The program was hampered by allegations of McCallie mistreating players and assistant coaches, with the university launching an investigation following several player transfers before and during last season. That, coupled with injuries, made for a disappointing year for Duke, but they hope that all that is behind them as they’ve raced to an 8-1 start. Redshirt junior Rebecca Greenwell (20.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and true junior Lexie Brown (17.3 ppg) are the ones the Gamecocks need to keep an eye on in this one. Also of note: the fact that the Devils have allowed 52.4 points a game thus far. McCallie is known for her defense, and this year is no different.