No. 4 South Carolina is hosting No. 7 Connecticut in a heavyweight nonconference matchup Sunday. Both teams are coming in hot after bouncing back from losses earlier this month with some key players leveling up.
The Gamecocks are 23-2, with their only two losses being against UCLA in November and Texas on Feb. 9. South Carolina had already taken care of the Longhorns in January, but Vic Schaefer's team got its revenge in the rematch of new conference foes. The Gamecocks bounced back with a 101-63 win over Florida on Thursday.
UConn arrives in Columbia 23-3 with losses to Notre Dame and USC in December, and Tennessee on Feb. 6. That was the Huskies' first loss to the Lady Vols since 2007. Geno Auriemma's squad responded with a 77-40 win against Providence, and then a 78-40 victory over St John's.
Here is what you need to know ahead of Sunday's top 10 matchup.
Where to watch No. 7 UConn vs. No. 4 South Carolina
When: Sunday, Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. ET
Where: Colonial Life Arena -- Columbia, South Carolina
TV: ABC
Streaming: fubo (follow for free)
Odds: South Carolina -6.5
Last Meeting
UConn leads their series 9-5 since 2007, but the Gamecocks have won the last four – including the 2022 NCAA Championship Game.
Their most recent meeting was on Feb. 11, 2024, which South Carolina won 83-65. Te-Hina Paopao was the Gamecocks' leading scorer with 21 points on 8 of 12 from the field, including five 3-pointers.
For UConn, Paige Bueckers and Aliyah Edwards -- who is now in the WNBA -- were the top scorers with 20 points each.
UConn's Azzi Fudd fresh off career game
Bueckers may be the face of the team and leader of the offense, but Fudd provided a recent reminder of why she was so highly recruited coming out of high school. Fudd poured in a career-high 34 points against St. John's on Wednesday, including 8 of 14 from 3-point range. It was also just the third time this season she has scored more than 20 points.
It was a big moment for Fudd, who has battled injuries throughout her collegiate career that have limited her playing time over her four years in Storrs. Fudd credited her teammates for helping her get good looks, but also emphasized that losing to Tennessee helped the Huskies lock in.
"I think we've learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to work on," Fudd said. "I think we took our game at Tennessee as a lesson. These last practices have been some of our best all season, working on what we need to work on. That was kind of that eye opener that we needed. As a whole we are locked in, we are together."
Joyce Edwards is shining for South Carolina
The Gamecocks typically spread their offense and there is not just one particular player who stands out on a given night because of it. There are six active players averaging over seven points per game. Freshman Joyce Edwards leads the team with 12.3 points this season, but she truly grabbed the spotlight against the Gators with a career-high 28 points. More impressively, she did so while playing just 19 minutes coming off the bench.
Her 28 points are the most any other South Carolina player has scored in a single game this season. Similar to Fudd, Edwards also credited her team's recent loss as a learning lesson.
"Obviously, Texas was a little rough, but you watch film and you learn from it," Edwards said postgame. "In every situation you learn. I feel like that's what I did today. Just coming out and executing, learning from what I did from Texas. I'm just slowing down a little bit, but that was really it. I feel like that loss kind of opened my eyes to what I needed to do more: just learning and executing."
