The No. 2 ranked South Carolina women’s basketball team will carry its undefeated record on the road Thursday night as they travel to the plains of Auburn, Alabama, for a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Gamecocks had a wild finish in their game on Sunday against No. 13 Texas A&M, but ended up with a one-point victory over the tough Aggie team. The Gamecocks will have to guard against a big game hangover when they play the Tigers.
South Carolina is in the middle of a conference stretch in which they have played three ranked teams in a row, and after Auburn, they visit No. 10 Mississippi State. With Auburn sitting at 2-3 in conference play, Thursday night's game might be easy to overlook.
The Gamecocks cannot expect to coast through this game and still earn a victory. The Tigers already played spoiler once this year when they upset the Kentucky Wildcats just over two weeks ago. The Tigers will surely pounce at the chance to ruin the Gamecocks' unblemished record.
Expect A’ja Wilson to have yet another big game. The 6-foot-5 Wilson has proven herself to be among the nation’s most intimidating players this season. She brought home her fourth ESPN Player of the Week award last week. Over the past two games, Wilson has nearly been averaging a triple double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks. Look for her to stay on track against the Auburn team, whose tallest player is still two inches shorter than Wilson.
If all goes according to plan, the Gamecock forwards will have a field day in the paint. Tiffany Mitchell will continue to play like the two-time SEC Player of the Year that she is. Ideally, South Carolina will use this game to jump-start the second half of its conference season.