It’s rivalry week for South Carolina women’s basketball, and Dawn Staley knows it.
The second-ranked Gamecocks will take on No. 4 LSU at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 24 at Colonial Life Arena, one day after both teams were originally scheduled to face each other. On Thursday morning, Staley joined “SEC Now” on the SEC Network to discuss the rivalry between the Gamecocks and Tigers.
“It’s a rivalry, it really is,” Staley said Thursday. “It’s not only a rivalry between the programs on the floor, but it is a rivalry with the fanbases.”
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She added: “It’s so very good for our game that people are interested in this rivalry. We’re fortunate but not fortunate that ‘College GameDay’ isn’t going to be here, but I’m sure the people who are going to pack Colonial Life Arena at 5 p.m. on Friday are going to get a treat. They are going to get their money’s worth.”
The rivalry between South Carolina and LSU has been one of the more fierce rivalries in all of college basketball (both men’s and women’s) over the last few seasons — though the Gamecocks haven’t lost to the Tigers since 2012.
In last year’s SEC women’s basketball tournament championship game, which South Carolina won 76-70, a fight broke out at halfcourt in the fourth quarter. Several members of both rosters were ejected from the game, including Kamilla Cardoso.
The rivalry doesn’t stop at the players on the roster. Friday’s SEC regular season contest not only features two of the top rosters in women’s college basketball but also two of the sport’s top coaches in Staley and LSU’s Kim Mulkey.
Staley, who is in her 17th season at South Carolina, is 5-2 all-time against Mulkey, and 4-0 against her since she left Baylor for LSU in 2021. Entering Friday’s contest, there have a combined 1,373 career wins, 11 Final Four appearances and seven national championship titles.
“Kim is Kim and I’m me. I think we both have strong personalities, we both want to win and are super competitive,” Staley said. “But we also both know that it isn’t about us, it is more about the players and their ability to execute on Friday at 5 p.m.”
South Carolina (18-1, 6-0 in SEC) and LSU (20-0, 5-0) will tip off at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 24. The Gamecocks will look to extend their win streak to 39 consecutive SEC regular-season victories since 2022-23.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dawn Staley talks women’s basketball rivalry between South Carolina, LSU
