The last time Dawn Staley was in Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Kim Mulkey whispered something in her ear.
“Girl, they can say whatever the hell they want, it don’t get no better than what you and I (expletive) put on this floor,” Mulkey said.
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ESPN was filming a documentary series on then-star Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso. It captured Mulkey and Staley’s pre-game meeting, where the LSU coach acknowledged what a game between her team and South Carolina women’s basketball brings.
Since Staley’s 76-70 win on Jan. 25, 2024, Mulkey’s sentiment still rings true.
As the No. 3 Gamecocks (24-2, 10-1 SEC) travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to play the No. 6 Tigers (22-3, 8-3) on Feb. 14 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), the atmosphere has only gotten bigger.
“They’re two of the top programs in the game,” said college basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli. “Every time they play it’s for something really important, not just regular seeding, regular season titles or tournament titles, it’s also for NCAA seeding.”
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So much so that when ESPN had a spot open for an ABC primetime Saturday night game and wanted a marquee women’s game, the answer was obvious.
“You’ve got so many different storylines with it. They are bitter rivals, they both have unbelievable history of success,” said Dan Margulis, ESPN’s senior director of programming and acquisitions.
While there was never any lack of attention on this game, it’s trying to live up to its expectations in ways other haven’t this year.
Tennessee upset UConn last year but lost 96-66 in this year’s rematch. Notre Dame historically gives the Huskies trouble but the Fighting Irish lost 85-47.
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ABC gave the Lady Vols spotlight on Feb. 8 but 2.1 million viewers watched South Carolina give them their biggest loss in program history.
It was the most-watched women’s basketball game this season but that could change in the matter of days.
“It’s hard to quantify what is the most important game because I think when the schedule came out we could have said ‘UConn vs. Tennessee’ (or Notre Dame vs. UConn) … but this time we have a game where everyone expected them to be really good and they have been. I really think it’s going to deliver,” said women’s basketball reporter Eden Laase, who has written for the New York Times and Yahoo Sports.
South Carolina women’s basketball vs LSU history, Dawn Staley vs Kim Mulkey
The series, which LSU leads 22-21, began in 1992. Staley’s first season was 2008-09 and Mulkey was at Baylor for 21 years before taking the LSU job beginning in 2021-22 season.
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LSU won 14 straight from 1998-2011, and South Carolina started a 17-game winning streak in 2012 that LSU will try to end on Valentine’s Day.
In between South Carolina’s national titles in 2022 and 2024, Mulkey won her first championship with LSU in 2023.
Mulkey is aiming for her first win against Staley since she beat her twice while coaching Baylor. Staley is one title away from tying Mulkey with four.
“The results haven’t been as one would hope in a rivalry, but there’s been national championships won by both teams,” said Chaunte’l Powell of No Cap Space, which covers women’s college basketball and the WNBA. “So I feel like while it hasn’t been against each other, I think the results count. They’re two high-caliber teams. We’ve been talking about this game and looking forward to it all season.”
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MiLaysia Fulwiley’s impact on South Carolina vs LSU rivalry
In one of the most notable offseason moves, star guard MiLaysia Fulwiley left South Carolina after two seasons and transferred to LSU.
There’s been no indication of animosity from or toward Fulwiley. Staley said in May that she wants Fulwiley happy, South Carolina players commented on her initial announcement post and Mulkey said Feb. 8 she doesn’t know of any bad blood.
South Carolina point guard Raven Johnson’s mother Kia told The Greenville News in November that most of the girls pitted against each other by fans are actually friends.
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But Fulwiley’s transfer adds more fuel to a game that already had plenty of hype.
“I don’t consider it a rivalry, but I do think MiLaysia going to LSU, I think that adds a wrinkle to it,” said NBC’s Natalie Esquire. “I think there’ll be an extra bit of spiciness, not that there hasn’t been spiciness already in the past, but I do think it adds something to the matchup now.”
The chippy play and chirps between the programs just embodies what makes high-level basketball so great.
“I think this is one of the biggest games of the season,” Madeline Kenney of the New York Post said. “It’s definitely one of those premier games that any basketball fan will not want to miss.”
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Fulwiley is a playmaker known for flash and flair. In the 2024 SEC tournament championship vs LSU, Fulwiley scored 24 points as a freshman to seal the game and MVP award.
She’s still coming off the bench like she did at South Carolina, averaging 13.4 points compared to 11.7 each of her first two seasons.
“I think that anytime a player is playing their former team there are emotions there,” Kenney said. “There’s an extra level of desire to beat your former team, whether it’s spoken or not. It’s just internal as a competitor, you want to prove that you made the right decision by leaving, to some degree.”
Not only did Fulwiley leave to play for a team that just one year prior was in a scuffle with her then teammates but she left her home.
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She grew up roughly 15 minutes from Colonial Life Arena and has said numerous times a fresh start was a large part of the reason she left.
“I think we as people and sports fans are kind of wired to really love a storyline like that, it is really interesting just the fact that she was a hometown kid, and ended up leaving for a school that people kind of consider to be a rival, that’s a huge deal,” Laase said.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What MiLaysia Fulwiley transfer brings to South Carolina vs LSU rivalry
