The hype of the win against a rival is over, and it's back to business for South Carolina’s women’s basketball team.
Traveling to Missouri, the Gamecocks will play in the other Columbia to try and protect their undefeated record for this season.
Missouri (11-6, 1-3 SEC) will host South Carolina (16-0, 4-0 SEC) in their first meeting of the season.
With Missouri coming off the win against Florida 66-47, this SEC matchup could become interesting. South Carolina has the same energy beating out ranked No. 10 team Kentucky Sunday 68-60.
Recently, the Gamecocks have received much attention for filling out their home court, Colonial Life Arena, with more than 17,000 fans during the Kentucky game.
Head coach Dawn Staley is proud of what her team has already brought to the table and said it wouldn’t be possible without the fans coming out to support.
“I tip my hat to all of Gamecock nation for making [Colonial Life Arena] a great place.” Staley said. “It truly gives us the feel of a home court advantage.”
Most women’s basketball teams do not gain much recognition or support from their fans when playing at home, but when you’re 16-0 overall and number one in the nation obtaining a mass amount of fans is not a problem.
“It’s a truly beautiful thing to see unfold, because most people didn’t think it could be done.” Staley adds about the number of people filling up the arena.
One of the leading scorers for the Gamecocks, junior Khadijah Sessions, could not be more proud to have this kind of support system during the game.
“I think we have the best fans in America. They’re always behind us, no matter if we are up or down they are always there to support us. We love Columbia and love the Gamecock nation," Sessions said after the Kentucky game Sunday.
Junior Tiffany Mitchell was recently named AgSouth Athlete of the Week and has been the top scorer for South Carolina in both wins last week against Louisiana State and Alabama.
In this upcoming game, two key players on Missouri to look out for are senior Morgan Eye and sophomore Jordan Frericks averaging 13 and 10 points per game, respectively. These averages are close to those of South Carolina’s key players Mitchell and freshman A’ja Wilson scoring 14 and 13 points per game, respectively.
Even though these four players seem to score in the same ranges, the game is played as a team sport and the team who works together best will take home the win.
Both teams seem to be working together well with both having high points per game averages. However, while the Gamecocks average about 80 points per game, the Tigers average comes only to about 65 points per game for the 2014-15 season so far.
Last season when these two teams met, South Carolina hosted Missouri in the Colonial Life Arena and won 78-62.
A year has passed and both teams have changed and developed, so the outcome will be decided on the court.
The Tigers and Gamecocks will play in the Mizzou Arena Thursday at 9 p.m. (ETSECN/WatchESPN).