LSU Athletic Communications and Staff Reports
Former Parkway star Mikaylah Williams and her LSU teammates battle take on defending national champion South Carolina Friday afternoon at 4 in Columbia, S.C.
LSU (20-0, 5-0), the 2023 national champion, is ranked No. 5 in the AP poll. South Carolina (18-1, 6-0) is No. 2.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Williams, a sophomore guard, is averaging 16.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists. She is LSU’s third-leading scorer behind Flau’jae Johnson (20.0) and Aneesah Morrow (18-7).
The game was originally scheduled to be played Thursday, but travel issues brought on by Winter Storm Enzo forced the game to be pushed back one day. ESPN’s College Gameday was scheduled to be in Columbia Thursday, but now the pregame show will not take place anymore because of the schedule change.
The Tigers are off to their second 20-0 start over the past three seasons. It is the second-best start to a season in program history; the 2022-23 team began the season 23-0, dropping its first game at South Carolina. The Tigers have options to score the ball and have had at least two players score 20+ points in 11 games this season, including in all of the previous three games.
LSU and South Carolina have matched up four times since Kim Mulkey became LSU’s coach. The Gamecocks have won all four matchups. LSU lost by six last season during the regular season matchup in Baton Rouge. In the SEC Tournament Championship it was a close game that the Gamecocks won by seven.
The last time LSU played in Columbia was during the 2022-23 season, a matchup South Carolina dominated and won by 24 points. But LSU was able to take what they learned from that defeat and use it the capture the 2023 national championship.
South Carolina has been the most dominant team in the SEC over the past decade. The Gamecocks own a 68-game home winning streak and a 53-game SEC regular season winning streak.
The Gamecock’s only loss this season came at the hands of UCLA who is the only unbeaten team other than LSU remaining this season. The Bruins won that game by 15 points before vaulting to the top of the polls. Since then, South Carolina has dominated opponents, winning 13 in a row all by double figures, six against ranked opponents. Friday will be South Carolina’s fourth straight game against a ranked team, winning their last three by an average margin of 25 poin