University of South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards (8) snags the ball from Auburn’s Mar’shaun Bostic (12) during the second half of action in the Colonial Life Arena on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 South Carolina women’s basketball team are hitting the road this week.
The Gamecocks will be down in Alabama on Thursday for a 9 p.m. matchup with the Auburn Tigers. It’s the first of a quick two-game road slate for South Carolina that will continue with a Monday game at Texas A&M.
South Carolina is coming off a 103-74 Sunday shellacking of No. 5 Vanderbilt the last time out. The big win was the perfect bounce-back from an upset loss a few days prior at Oklahoma.
Here’s a few things to watch when the Gamecocks play Auburn.
South Carolina has two on national award watch list
USC landed two players on the 2026 Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year mid-season watch list. Veteran guard Raven Johnson and star sophomore forward Joyce Edwards are among the 25 players to make the list.
Johnson’s inclusion is no surprise. South Carolina’s point guard has been known for her defensive play throughout her career and finally earned an All-SEC Defensive Team nod last season.
The story this season has been Johnson’s improved offense, but her defense has been just as good. Johnson has 1.5 steals per game (up from last year) and 70.6% of those have led immediately to points. Her defensive rebound numbers (3.4 per game) and blocks (0.7 per game) have both increased from last year. Johnson’s defensive win shares and defensive box plus/minus stats are also hovering just below last year’s marks.
“She’s super long,” guard Ta’Niya Latson said of Johnson. “She uses her ability to push guards off their spots. She’s super long, so she blocks shots. And she’s just strong as hell — excuse my French.”
Edwards’ inclusion on the list is a sign of growth as an all-around player. To this point in her young career, she’s been known for her scoring and playmaking ability.
Edwards leads the team with 2.1 steals per game. That mark is good enough for No. 11 in the SEC and is up from 1.1 per game last season. Her 1.4 blocks per game is second on the team and No. 9 in the SEC. Edwards has already logged more steals and blocks this year (46 steals, 30 blocks) in 22 games than she did all of last season (42 steals, 21 blocks) in 39 games.
“The things that she can contribute to our basketball team makes us better, makes her better as an overall basketball player,” Staley said Wednesday.
What’s up with the starting lineup?
Staley made a small tweak to the starting lineup during USC’s last game against Vanderbilt.
She moved Madina Okot to the bench and started freshman guard Agot Makeer in her place. The smaller lineup allowed South Carolina to apply more pressure on defense and space the floor better on offense, Staley said after the game. The lineup was also changed, in part, to relieve Okot of some pressure.
The decision appeared to work, as Okot finished with 17 points, seven rebounds (tied for a team-high) and five steals against Vanderbilt after she recorded just six points in the previous game.
Makeer looked good in her fourth career start. She finished with eight points and helped impact the game on the defensive side of the ball early.
Could we see a similar starting lineup against Auburn? It isn’t completely out of the question.
“It’s a game by game [decision]. I won’t tell you today, though,” Staley joked. “But it’s a good look for us so at some point we’ll have that line up in and hopefully capitalize like we did last game.”
If there’s a time for in-game experiments, it’s in the next three games for South Carolina. The Gamecocks are matched up with three teams — Auburn, Texas A&M and Mississippi State — who are all in the bottom half of the league. South Carolina is an average 22.4-point favorite in its next three games, per BartTorvik.com
A look at Auburn
South Carolina enters Thursday’s matchup on a 16-game win streak over the Tigers. USC holds a 32-21 advantage in the all-time series, with Auburn’s last win in the series coming in 2012.
The Gamecocks, led by an 18-point performance from Edwards, beat Auburn at home last year 83-66.
Auburn is led by first-year head coach Larry Vickers. Auburn is 13-8 (2-5 SEC), passing the total win mark from last season in his first year at the helm of the program. The Tigers also have a win over a Top 25 team after beating rival Alabama a few weeks ago.
Vickers came to Auburn after a decade at Norfolk State. Vickers coached against Staley and the Gamecocks when the No. 16 seed Spartans matched up against South Carolina in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Last week, Staley recalled the March Madness matchup and said Vickers’ playbook was filled with “great stuff” and challenged the Gamecock to “stay locked in” longer on defense. Staley said she texted Vickers after his first SEC victory over Alabama.
“It’s hard for first-year coaches to win in our league, because there’s so many adjustments that you have to make,” Staley said. “And sometimes you don’t have a team which is your team. But he’s got him playing well, he’s got them flying around on both sides of the basketball. And it’s another tough SEC team that we have to play on the road.”
This year’s Auburn squad looks drastically different from last year’s team. The Tigers returned just two players from a year ago and added 10 newcomers. Auburn is led by 5-foot-10 guard Harissoum Coulibaly. The true freshman leads the team with 11.1 points per game.
“They got some incredible athletes that like to fly around,” Staley said. “They like to challenge you to keep them in front of them. So it’s a game in which we have to control the paint, because they like to just put their heads down and go. And actually they have the personnel to do that. They’re pretty scrappy, so they’ll probably press us. They’ll probably go after every rebound. ”
South Carolina vs Auburn: What time, TV channel
- Who: No. 3 South Carolina (20-2, 6-1 SEC) vs Auburn (13-8 2-5 SEC)
- When: 9 p.m. Thursday
- Where: Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala.
- TV: SEC Network (Sam Gore, Carolyn Peck)
- Stream: ESPN.com or the ESPN app
- Radio: 106.7 FM or SiriusXM channels 106 or 19 (Brad Muller)
Michael Sauls is The State’s South Carolina women’s basketball reporter. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot covering Norfolk State and Hampton University sports. A Columbia native, he is an alum of the University of South Carolina.
