Where to watch Texas vs. South Carolina: TV channel, live stream for SEC clash
The SEC is the toughest conference in women’s college basketball and two of the heavyweights will face off Thursday night in one of the biggest regular season games of the season. No. 2 South Carolina hosts No. 4 Texas in a Players Era Championship rematch in November, and this matchup could be a huge recovery booster when March rolls around.
These opponents know each other well since this will be their sixth meeting in 369 days. In all of these games, both teams were ranked in the AP top five.
South Carolina is 17-1 this season, with the Gamecocks’ only loss coming to the Longhorns in November. This game did not count toward their SEC record, meaning Dawn Staley’s team is still undefeated in conference play. Meanwhile, Texas is 18-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC after a loss to LSU last weekend. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of this top-five matchup.
Where to Watch No. 4 Texas at No. 2 South Carolina
Date: Thursday January 15 | Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
TV: ESPN2 | Live Stream: fubo (Try for free)
Odds (via FanDuel): South Carolina -3.5, O/U: 137.5
How Texas Won in November
South Carolina leads this series 5-4 dating back to 1988, including a Final Four victory last April. However, Texas had the most recent victory with a last-second shot from Rori Harmon at the Players Era Championship match in Las Vegas.
At this point, South Carolina was ranked #2 and Texas was #4. The Longhorns beat then-No. 3 UCLA the day before, meaning they became the first team in at least 25 years to defeat two top-three ranked opponents in consecutive games.
Texas only used a seven-man rotation against South Carolina due to injuries, but that was all the Longhorns needed. Harmon finished the game with just six points, but she was invaluable to her team’s offense with nine assists. Madison Booker had 16 points and 9 rebounds, while Jordan Lee led all scorers with 19 points.
Four South Carolina players scored in double figures, led by 16 points from Ta’Niya Latson. Madina Okot also stood out with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Can Texas “get ready” and bounce back from LSU’s loss on Sunday and Vic Schaefer’s postgame rant?
Texas is no longer undefeated after suffering a 70-65 loss to LSU last weekend. Although the Longhorns’ offense saw significant growth from last season, they struggled mightily in Baton Rouge. Vic Shaefer’s team has one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the country, but on Sunday his team had a game-high 17 turnovers and just 9 assists.
Mikaylah Williams severely limited Booker in the first half. Meanwhile, Lee only scored three baskets and Harmon missed the fourth quarter.
In the postgame press conference, Booker said his team had to figure out how to prepare for South Carolina because they didn’t show they were ready on Sunday. Schaefer also spoke on disliking a schedule in which they had to play LSU and South Carolina back-to-back on the road.
Defense and rebounding will be key
One of the things that helped LSU beat Texas was winning the rebounding battle 44-35. Staley pointed out that this is one of the key areas that has helped the Tigers and also something she wants her team to focus on.
Defense will also be key as these are two teams in the top 15 nationally in defensive scoring. Their attacks have been productive against other opponents, but it won’t necessarily be a high-scoring affair. Texas’ lowest-scoring games this season were against top SEC opponents South Carolina (66-64 win) and LSU (70-65 loss). As for the Gamecocks, they only reached 65 points in wins over Clemson and Georgia, but their 66-64 loss to Texas was their lowest of the season.
“They make it difficult,” Staley said. “They make it difficult to pass entry. Anywhere on the court. Anywhere. For us, we just have to be disciplined. Disciplined about how we want to play defense and not give them multiple ways to get off screens. You have to give them direction, and that’s hard enough to guard, but when you give them options, you’re going to run everywhere spending the energy we need on the defensive side of the ball, as well as the offensive side of the ball.”
