Sec Tournament Bracket: South Carolina and LSU collide again as the semifinal picture sharpens
The sec tournament bracket now points to a familiar and high-stakes rematch: No. 3/3 South Carolina will face No. 6/6 LSU in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday, March 7, with tipoff set for 4: 30 p. m. ET at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, airing on ESPN2.
What does the Sec Tournament Bracket reveal about South Carolina’s current footing?
In this round of the sec tournament bracket, South Carolina arrives with a sustained semifinal track record: the program is playing in the SEC Tournament semifinals for the seventh-straight season and the 13th time in the last 15 seasons. In those semifinal contests, South Carolina is 10-2.
The Gamecocks’ profile against elite competition is also central to how this semifinal matchup reads. South Carolina is 11-2 against ranked opponents this season, including a 4-1 mark against top-10 teams, and has a +10. 8 scoring margin against those top-10 opponents. Across 13 games against ranked opponents overall, South Carolina’s scoring margin is +15. 1.
Several individual performance markers cited by the program frame how South Carolina has handled its biggest stages. The team’s starters have each averaged double-figure points against ranked opponents this season. Madina Okot is cited at 13. 3 points and 11. 5 rebounds per outing against ranked competition, and during an eight-game streak of double-doubles she averaged 15. 1 points, 13. 6 rebounds, and 2. 0 blocks per game; that stretch included six games against top-25 opponents.
South Carolina’s latest SEC Tournament game referenced in the material was against Kentucky, and it produced details the program is using to define its current form. South Carolina assisted on 67. 7 percent of its made field goals against Kentucky on Friday (21 assists on 31 field goals). Joyce Edwards, a sophomore forward, was named to the All-America Second Team by The Athletic this week and then scored 21 points against Kentucky, matching her SEC Tournament debut outing last season and marking her 19th 20-point game of the season.
Other Kentucky-game specifics included Ta’Niya Latson scoring 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting and 5-of-6 free-throw accuracy while also leading the team with six assists in 24 minutes. Tessa Johnson went 3-of-4 from 3-point range to score 15 points, and Maddy McDaniel posted seven points plus a career-high five rebounds with three steals and two assists in 24 minutes. Raven Johnson’s production is also framed as elevated against ranked opponents, averaging 11. 0 points on 51. 8 percent shooting with 5. 7 assists per game.
Why is the South Carolina–LSU semifinal a pressure test inside the sec tournament bracket?
The semifinal pairing is also a direct continuation of a series history outlined in the program material. South Carolina and LSU are 22-22 all-time, and South Carolina is cited as 19-5 against LSU in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), including winning the last 18 meetings. In SEC Tournament games, South Carolina is listed as 3-0 against LSU (1998, 2015, 2024).
The teams’ regular-season meeting earlier this season in Baton Rouge is presented as a useful template for what can shift within a game. South Carolina rallied from a five-point deficit after the first quarter, won the next three quarters, and claimed a 79-72 victory. Tessa Johnson led all scorers with 21 points, including 16 in the first half. The lead changed hands six times, but once South Carolina took the lead just before halftime, it did not relinquish it.
Those details matter in a tournament setting because the semifinal is a compressed, one-game moment with little margin for prolonged instability. The regular-season matchup described a game with early pressure, repeated lead changes, and then a decisive stretch that locked the result. That is the kind of sequence that can define a postseason rematch—especially at a neutral-site arena with a title-game berth on the line.
What should fans watch at 4: 30 p. m. ET—and what comes next?
The SEC Tournament semifinal is set for Saturday, March 7, at 4: 30 p. m. ET at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, with ESPN2 carrying the broadcast. South Carolina enters with multiple statistical signposts tied to ranked competition—scoring margin, efficiency markers, and individual trend lines—while LSU is positioned as the ranked opponent standing between the Gamecocks and the next round.
Within the sec tournament bracket, the immediate question is whether the dynamics described from the earlier meeting—early deficit, repeated lead changes, then a late second-quarter pivot that held—repeat themselves or evolve. For South Carolina, the cited emphasis on assisted scoring against Kentucky and production from multiple players is a suggested blueprint. For LSU, the opportunity is embedded in the rematch itself: a chance to rewrite the most recent result as the teams meet again in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
