COLUMBIA — No. 6 Texas comes to town for Sunday showdown (1 p.m., ESPN) with South Carolina women’s basketball, the first game in Columbia for the Longhorns (16-1, 2-0 SEC ) and the No. 2 Gamecocks (15-1, 3-0), who’ve played only four times in program history.
Coach Vic Schaefer makes his return to the SEC this season with Texas, which is now part of the 16-team conference. Schaefer spent eight years coaching against South Carolina coach Dawn Staley while at Mississippi State.
The series is split 2-2, with the most recent win going to South Carolina in the 2021 NCAA Elite Eight in Schaefer’s first season at Texas. The Gamecocks won 62-34 before losing to Stanford in the Final Four.
Here is what to know about Texas ahead of the top 10 matchup:
Texas’ Madison Booker is South Carolina’s No. 1 concern
Madison Booker, a 6-foot-1 sophomore forward, leads Texas with a 14.9-point scoring average.
Booker is lethal in the mid range, fast and has great ball handling skills to make moves on defenders with ease. She loves to drive and catch defenders off balance so she can swiftly fake, go up and under or step back into a shot.
What makes Booker hard to guard, is that defenders can’t take breaks. She creates shots for herself and doesn’t camp out on the block waiting for the ball.
And she can shoot from the 3-point line.
In October, Booker was voted SEC preseason player of the year.
Texas guards overwhelm defenses
Texas’ depth at guard adds to the layer of talent. Rori Harmon is averaging 10.3 points and 6.3 assists. She sees the floor well and can push the ball in transition, which will force South Carolina’s guards to be aware of getting beat in transition.
Harmon does a nice job driving, drawing defenders then finding the open player.
Freshman guard Jordan Lee is Texas’ top 3-point shooter, shooting 51.2%. Against JMU on Dec. 8, she went 6-for-6 from 3 and has scored over 12 points in five games.
Senior guard Shay Holle, the only player on the roster who faced South Carolina in 2021 has taken the most 3-pointers this season but has only hit 14-of-54 attempts.
Dawn Staley says Vic Schaefer is ‘same old’ coach from Mississippi State
Staley mentioned how Schafer still seems to coach the same way he did in Starkville, which means having a team that presses, makes it difficult to inbound the ball and who plays-high pressure defense.
Staley said Schaefer’s roster is more talented than what he had at Mississippi State, which adds to the challenge. “He’s got all the keys to winning a national championship.”
South Carolina vs Texas injury updates
The SEC injury report will be released on Saturday night.
South Carolina
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Ashlyn Watkins: tore her ACL on Sunday against Mississippi State and on Tuesday she was ruled out for the remainder of the season
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Maddy McDaniel: has been out with a concussion, was out against Texas A&M on Thursday
Texas
How to watch South Carolina vs Texas: Time, TV channel, live stream
South Carolina women’s basketball vs. Texas will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. Streaming options for the game include FUBO and ESPN+.
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South Carolina score prediction vs Texas
South Carolina 85, Texas A&M 80: The Gamecocks step up and take the big win on their home court and four players score in double figures.
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Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina women’s basketball vs Texas score prediction
