Fatigue Looms Large as South Carolina Prepares to Host Ole Miss
When South Carolina welcomes Ole Miss to Colonial Life Arena on Sunday, the battle on the court may be secondary to the battle each team is waging against its own exhaustion. Both programs arrive carrying the weight of a brutal stretch run — but the Rebels, in particular, are running on fumes.
Ole Miss Running on Empty
Ole Miss enters Sunday’s game having played four contests in just eight days, a gruelling run that traces back to a scheduling crisis caused by the ice storm that struck Mississippi in late January. The January 26 game against Tennessee had to be postponed, leaving the Rebels displaced for nearly two weeks and forcing them to play two “home” games in Birmingham. The makeup game against Tennessee was eventually slotted for Tuesday, February 18, giving Ole Miss almost no room to breathe before travelling to face the Gamecocks.
The schedule carnage hit Tennessee hard as well — the Lady Vols’ four games in eight days alternated between home and away — but Ole Miss at least had the modest consolation of playing the middle two games at home.
The fatigue caught up with the Rebels in real time against LSU on Thursday. Leading by 13 points in the third quarter, Ole Miss went scoreless on their 16 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter and surrendered the game. Head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin didn’t sugarcoat what happened.
“Not taking anything away from LSU,” she said, “but we ran out of gas.”
The situation was further complicated by the absence of starter Thienou, who logs nearly 30 minutes per game, due to injury. McPhee-McCuin confirmed the Rebels would take Friday off — their first rest day in a week — before having just a single day of preparation to get ready for South Carolina.
South Carolina Isn’t Immune
The Gamecocks are in better shape by comparison, but not by a wide margin. Their last scheduled bye came on February 12, and while an extra day off came courtesy of a Saturday tip at LSU rather than Sunday, the cumulative toll of injuries, illness, and a relentless SEC grind has caught up with Dawn Staley’s squad as well.
The concern was significant enough that Staley stripped two portions from Friday’s practice in favour of active recovery — a decision that apparently caught her players off guard.
“Today was like an active recovery type of practice for us,” Staley said. “Just did the bare minimum. The quality of work we did today I liked, and I think they liked. We cut two things off our practice and they were a little bit surprised about it. But that’s how you keep them fresh. They were really surprised that practice was over.”
Injury and Illness Updates
Raven Johnson was absent from Friday’s practice due to illness, with coaches opting to keep her home and rest rather than push her through a session. It follows a difficult week for the sophomore guard, who played through sickness against Alabama and made multiple trips to the locker room during the game.
Adhel Tac, who has missed the last three games, was present at practice but appeared to have moved from a walking boot to a scooter — a development that raises concerns about the trajectory of her recovery. Staley, however, wasn’t forthcoming with specifics.
“Still trying to figure it out,” Staley said. “Day-to-day.”
The illness bug appears to have spread beyond the roster. Staley herself was audibly coughing throughout her postgame press conference on Friday, though she was quick — and characteristically emphatic — in dismissing any suggestion that she was under the weather.
“I never claimed illness!” she said.
The Stage is Set
Sunday’s matchup at Colonial Life Arena will test more than just talent and strategy. It will test which team has managed its physical and mental reserves better through one of the most punishing stretches of the season. For Ole Miss, the task of upsetting the third-ranked team in the country while running on a week’s worth of accumulated fatigue seems daunting. For South Carolina, the challenge is ensuring that their recovery has been sufficient to maintain their edge at home — where, for visiting teams, conditions are already formidable even on a good day.
