COLUMBIA — With students away on holiday break, the crowd at Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday night was much smaller than usual. And with leading scorer A’ja Wilson on the bench nursing shin splints, second-ranked South Carolina sleepwalked through a pre-holiday game against Hampton.
And yet, the result was still something USC fans have become used to seeing this basketball season — a victory. The Gamecocks dispatched Hampton 86-48 to improve to 10-0 for the fourth consecutive season, win their 39th straight home game, and maintain South Carolina’s standing as the lone Division I school with both its men’s and women’s teams still undefeated.