The No. 4 Texas Longhorns (18-1, 3-1) women’s basketball team will travel to Columbia, S.C., on Thursday to face the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks (17-1, 4-0) for the second time in the 2025-26 season. The Gamecocks led the Longhorns 5-4 in the series, but earlier this season the two powerhouses clashed in the Players Era Tournament finals in Las Vegas, where the Longhorns defeated the Gamecocks 66-64 with the game-winning field goal in a nail-biting showdown.
The Gamecocks’ defense, led by head coach Dawn Staley, continues to be the program’s difference. South Carolina allowed 53.6 points, which ranked 13th nationally, while shooting .319, which ranked third nationally. South Carolina leads the SEC in scoring defense (55.25) and is second in field goal percentage defensively (.325). The Gamecocks rank 23rd nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at .366 and 41.3 percent against ranked opponents, while ranking 14th nationally in scoring (20.7 points per game) and 12th in field goal percentage (.606).
advertise
Senior guard Ta’Niya Latson is leading the Gamecocks to the most efficient season of her career, shooting 50.9 percent from the field, including 41.0 percent from three-point range, and scoring 1.09 points per possession and 1.22 points per shot. Latson averages 16.3 points per game, ranking 10th in the SEC, and ranks 13th in the league with 3.9 assists per game. Her recent scoring average has reached 9.0 points, which means she controls 27.3% of the team’s total offense.
Senior guard Raven Johnson ranks 19th in the SEC in field goal percentage at 14.5 points per game and ranks third in the conference in field goal percentage of .550. Senior Medina Okot leads the nation with 13 double-doubles, ranks eighth in rebounds per game (11.3), 11th in field goal percentage (.609) and 14th in offensive rebounds per game (4.2). Sophomore forward Joyce Edwards averaged 3.5 offensive rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. On the defensive end, he ranked ninth in the SEC with 1.4 blocks per game and ranked 14th in the league with 1.9 steals per game.
Head coach Vic Schaefer has the fourth-ranked Longhorns averaging 90.3 points per game, ranking them third in the NCAA, while holding opponents to 53.2 points per game. Madison Booker leads Texas with 19.2 points per game on 52.0% shooting, 7.3 rebounds, 76 assists, 48 ​​steals and 13 blocks per game. Guard Rori Harmon had 140 assists for the Longhorns, turned the ball over just 26 times in 2025-26, led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, and had 56 steals. Sophomore guard Jordan Lee is averaging 14.8 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting, while junior forward Breya Cunningham is shooting 60 percent while averaging 5.4 rebounds and 21 blocks per game. Coming off the bench, senior center Kyla Oldacre dominated the paint with an average of 12.3 points per game on 66.9% shooting. 21 neighborhoods in Texas. The Longhorns are ranked 12th in the nation, averaging 27 points per game off the bench.
Tip time at Colonial Life Arena is 6 p.m. Center on ESPN2.
