Jeff Blake-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
It’s Valentine’s Day, but there will be no love lost between the two teams that take the floor tonight at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The No. 3 South Carolina Gamecocks head to Baton Rouge to take on the No. 6 LSU Tigers. It’s not been a great run for LSU in this series, as they’ve lost 17 straight to Dawn Staley’s program. That could change tonight in prime time as the eyes of the country on ABC at 7:30 p.m. CT. Here’s what to know and what to watch for.
Why LSU will win
Their bench. The roles have been reversed a little when it comes to these two teams. Last year LSU head coach Kim Mulkey famously brought up South Carolina’s depth off their national runner-up team saying she’d “never coached against a team that had ten McDonald’s All-Americans.”
Both of these rosters are loaded with talent and former high school All-Americans, but it’s LSU’s depth and bench that have been deeper between the two this year. South Carolina has consistently seven to eight players per game with their starters carrying a bulk of the load. Their five starters all average over 23 points per game. Their five starters also all average over 9.9 points per game. In comparison LSU has been much more balanced in their production with eight players averaging nine points or more.
LSU’s bench leads the country in points per game at 40.6.
Kim Mulkey “we’re dumb” pic.twitter.com/Pk9rtqJOdQ
— Travis Recek (@TravisRecek) February 6, 2026
Why South Carolina will win
They’re playing their best basketball and made for these moments. South Carolina has two losses on the season, and both came away from home. That’s good news for the Tigers, but there’s bad news, too. Since South Carolina’s loss at Oklahoma they have been on a tear. They’ve won five straight games by an average of 30 points. They’ve also held their last four opponents under 56 points.
LSU leads the country in rebounds per game at 48.8 rpg. South Carolina isn’t far behind at 43 rpg, and while that feels like a decisive advantage it hasn’t always mattered in the past. Case in point, last year LSU was +12 in rebounds against South Carolina in their January meeting, but still lost by double digits.
Dawn Staley says she roots for the success of MiLaysia Fulwiley:
“If MiLaysia is improving that’s great for MiLaysia, that’s what I want… when they improve the overall game improves.”@GamecockWBB @wachfox pic.twitter.com/ysNgeuINag
— Jared Parker (@jaredparkertv) February 13, 2026
LSU’s most important player – MiLaysia Fulwiley
LSU has plenty of star power to choose from, but the player most eyes will be on from the moment she steps on the court is MiLaysia Fulwiley. Fulwiley transferred from South Carolina this past offseason, and while she has only started one game this year she’s still second on the team in scoring at 13.4 ppg. Fulwiley has been awesome this season as the Tigers’ sixth woman off the bench. There is talent all over this roster for LSU and there may not be a better one-two punch in the country than Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams. Fulwiley will be the one I’m watching most on Saturday night.
⭐️ 2025 SEC Sixth-Woman of the Year
🐓 MiLaysia Fulwiley, @GamecockWBB #SECWBB pic.twitter.com/aDdxME75VG
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 4, 2025
South Carolina’s most important player – Joyce Edwards
I hate to be hyperbolic, but it’s Joyce Edwards and it’s not particularly close. Edwards is the next in line of great South Carolina women’s players. The jump she’s made from her freshman season to this season has been incredible. She’s averaging 30 minutes per game and 20.3 points per game. She fills up the stat sheet better than almost anyone else in the country adding 6.2 rebounds per game and 49 steals along with 31 blocks on the year.
A season ago she came off the bench as a freshman against LSU pouring in 14 points in just 19 minutes.
This is called GROWTH 📈
JOYCE EDWARDS is THAT GIRL 👏
Freshman Year
▪️12.7 PPG
▪️5.0 RPG
▪️1.2 APG
▪️1.1 SPG
▪️0.5 BPG
▪️52.9% FGSophomore Year
▫️22.0 PPG
▫️6.2 RPG
▫️2.8 APG
▫️2.1 SPG
▫️1.6 BPG
▫️62.8% FG pic.twitter.com/l37hWNB3wb— E J 🏀 (@EJayArrow) December 22, 2025
Prediction
The atmosphere should be electric in the PMAC on Saturday night. While I don’t necessarily love wearing alternate uniforms that happen to be the main color of your opponent, the blackout LSU is planning should be awesome. Losing 17 straight games to one team seems almost impossible for a program as elite as LSU’s, but it’s hard to go against history when all five of LSU’s games versus the Gamecocks under Kim Mulkey have resulted in losses and by an average of 10.6 ppg.
South Carolina 72, LSU 70
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