Latest availability report for South Carolina-LSU Top 5 Showdown

South Carolina and LSU will play on Friday night in one of the biggest college basketball games of the year. The No. 2 Gamecocks and No. 5 Tigers are two of the three legitimate national championship contenders in the SEC. USC has already dropped the other one with a lopsided win against the Texas Longhorns. Now Dawn Staley’s team looks to continue its winning ways against Kim Mulkey’s LSU squad. A win would own Carolina alone in the SEC.

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In another top-five matchup, the SEC Mandatory availability report contained no surprises for each team.

Ashlyn Watkins (torn ACL) will be out for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season. However, the report did not include any additional Gamecocks for the fourth straight game.

For LSU, only guard Izzy Besselman made the report. Besselman’s absence continues thanks to an ongoing heart condition. She did not play for the Bayou Bengals this season.

With two of the nation’s best teams relatively healthy, Friday’s competition should be good.

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South Carolina picks up its 17th straight win against LSU on Friday. With a win, the Gamecocks would also extend their current winning streak to 13 games and their SEC regular season streak to a whopping 54 games. That is an all-time SEC record. Carolina has not lost a conference game in the regular season since 2021.

Tipoff for the Gamecocks vs. Tigers Rivalry matchup will be at 5 p.m. due to Winter Storm Enzo. This is a rescheduled time from the original Thursday AT-8:00 slot. ESPN will broadcast the contest, while the ESPN app will make it available for streaming.