No. 5 LSU and No. 2 South Carolina meet for must-see top-five SEC showdown

The GIST: Clear your schedule, cancel your plans — undefeated No. 5 LSU women’s basketball meets reigning champs No. 2 South Carolina tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

• College GameDay is ready for this potential March Madness heavyweight preview — now let’s bring you up to speed before this 2024 SEC championship rematch.

🐯 Flau’Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow are bringing the growl for unbeaten Tigers: Junior Johnson and senior Morrow lead the way for LSU, averaging 19.9 and 18.7 points per game, respectively. And that’s just the beginning for the high-scoring Tigers, who are putting up 90.6 points per game on average, the third-highest mark in the nation. Buckets on buckets.

🐓 Gamecocks rolling through conference play: South Carolina’s been on a tear ever since seeing their 43-game win streak snapped back in November, outscoring SEC opponents by nearly 30 points on average. And it’s a full team effort, with five players posting at or just below double-digit points each game.

• But the real difference-maker for the aforementioned Staley’s squad is their defense — the Gamecocks are holding opponents to a mere 55.1 points per game. Locking it down.

⏪ The history: LSU vs. South Carolina is among the spiciest SEC rivalries, with the Tigers holding a narrow 22-20 all-time series edge. That said, the Gamecocks have won the last 16 meetings dating back to 2012 and Staley’s 5-2 against LSU’s head coach, Kim Mulkey, in their career battles. TL;DR? This is going to be absolutely epic.