Thornwell, No. 25 South Carolina top No. 8 Texas A&M 81-78

The Aggies were on top of the conference by two games less than two weeks ago.

Injured South Carolina forward Tiffany Mitchell says she’s got a sore back but is ready to play against top-ranked CT on Monday night. The Huskies play East Carolina on Saturday. “She’s dealing with some pain”, Staley said.

– United Kingdom committed 11 turnovers compared to South Carolina’s 17, converting those into 13 points.

Jalen Jones leads the Aggies in scoring and rebounding with 16.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

The Irish broke the game open when Brianna Turner scored on back-to-back layups to spark a 12-0 run late in the third quarter.

She lay motionless on the floor for several minutes before being helped to her feet by Dr. Jeff Guy and others. The team said she had a lower back bruise. “Luckily I had my partner (Wilson) with me, and we managed to succeed”.

As time ran out, fans began to chant “We want UConn”.

“We had a hard time guarding them, and getting the stops we needed to beat them”, Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said.

The Gamecocks won their 45th consecutive home game.

South Carolina’s first appearance in a 1-vs.-2 game was on January 8, 1982, when then-No.

Coming into the 2015-16 college basketball season, who would have thought that in February, Texas A&M and SC and not Kentucky would stand atop the SEC?

SC had an 80-78 lead when Carrera was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. The Wildcats held a lead in the second quarter and had the ball at the end of a one-possession game before the Gators pulled away for an 85-79 victory. The game will be televised nationally on SEC Network with Paul Sunderland, Carolyn Peck and Steffi Sorensen calling the action. The Gamecocks defeated Kentucky 73-62 on the road earlier this season.

Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell, right, talks with an official during the first half of an NCAA …

– SC outrebounded the Wildcats 39-32, and held a 44-38 advantage in points scored in the paint. Junior post player Evelyn Akhator is the third United Kingdom player averaging double figures this season with 12.1 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game.

“Besides (the Gamecocks) making as many 3-pointers as they did, everything else they did was expected”, Caruso said. – Martin, after SC almost blew a nine-point lead in the final two minutes.

“That was a big shot”, said Wilson.

“We used that and the energy of the crowd to keep going to the next quarter, ” Coates said. “I’m hoping that there is magic in the building for us to play well and keep our home winning streak going”.

Silva is eager to improve; he was in the Gamecocks’ arena Thursday night at 10 p.m. after a SC women’s game working on his shooting and defensive positioning.