The South Carolina women’s basketball team is heading into the 2024-25 season coming off its first undefeated season in program history. The Gamecocks finished last season with a perfect 38-0 record— becoming the first team to achieve that feat since UConn in 2016 —and won their third national championship in program history.
South Carolina will face another strong schedule as it attempts to become the first team to repeat as champions since the Huskies. The team's upcoming slate of matches is headlined by five of the teams featured in the top 10 of the final AP poll rankings from last season.
Here is a breakdown of the Gamecocks' top games this upcoming season.
New faces, new places
South Carolina's non-conference schedule features multiple new opponents and many neutral-site games.
The Gamecocks will begin their title defense on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas against the Michigan Wolverines, a team they have not faced since 1995. The team will then travel to Charlotte to face the NC State Wolfpack in a rematch of last season’s Final Four game where South Carolina won 78-59.
Four days later, South Carolina will play its home opener when Coppin State travels to Colonial Life Arena.
Then, the Gamecocks will head to Los Angeles on Nov. 24 to face one of the Big Ten Conference’s newest additions, the UCLA Bruins. The matchup will be the program’s first at Pauley Pavilion since December 2016. The Bruins finished last season 27-7 ending their season with a loss in the Sweet 16. The team is projected to be a top seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN's Charlie Creme
The Gamecocks will then head out to Fort Myers, Florida, alongside the South Carolina men’s basketball team for the Fort Myers Classic, where they will face Iowa State on Nov. 28 and Purdue on Nov. 30. The Iowa State Cyclones are one of 14 opponents this season that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Purdue will be one of eight opponents that made the 2024 Women’s National Invitational Tournament, a list that includes a Memphis team that South Carolina will face in a preseason exhibition on Oct. 15.
The Gamecocks' final road trip before beginning SEC play will be to Fort Worth, Texas, where they will face the TCU Horned Frogs for the first time in program history. The Horned Frogs are projected to make the NCAA Tournament in 2025. Their roster is headlined by center Sedona Prince and guard Haley Van Lith, both of whom are redshirt seniors.
Wedged into conference play is another rematch against an opponent from last year's Final Four. UConn, which will be led by redshirt senior guard and projected top-overall 2025 WNBA Draft pick, Paige Bueckers, will face the Gamecocks on Feb. 16 as part of the two teams' yearly series that has dated back to the 2014-15 season.
SEC growth brings back familiar faces
South Carolina opens conference play on Jan. 2 against the Missouri Tigers at Mizzou Arena, the site of the Gamecocks' last regular season loss in December 2021.
The Gamecocks will later travel to Thompson-Boling Arena at the end of their first month of SEC play on Jan. 27 to face Tennessee. The Volunteers were the closest team to ending the Gamecocks’ undefeated run last season during the SEC Tournament semifinals, losing after former Gamecock and current Chicago Sky center Kamila Cardoso banked in a three-point shot at the buzzer to clinch a late win.
FILE – Head South Carolina Women's Basketball Coach Dawn Staley at the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship in Cleveland, Ohio on April 6, 2024. The Gamecocks defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes the following day 87-75, securing their third national championship title.
South Carolina will also see new faces in conference play in the SEC’s newest schools, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns. The Gamecocks will play the Sooners for the first time since December 2006 on Jan. 19, 2025, and will see the Longhorns twice on Jan. 12 in Columbia and Feb. 9 in Austin, Texas.
The two new SEC schools will bring the co-Big 12 Players of the Year to their new conference. Redshirt senior forward Skylar Vann of Oklahoma and sophomore Madison Booker of Texas, shared the honors last season, with Booker becoming the first freshman in conference history to take home the award.
While the Longhorns are new to the SEC, their head coach Vic Shaefer is very familiar with the conference and Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks.
Before taking over at Texas, Shaefer was the head coach of Mississippi State Bulldogs for eight years. The Gamecocks and Bulldogs faced off multiple times during his tenure, most notably during the 2017 national championship in Dallas when Staley’s Gamecocks lifted their first national championship trophy. Shaefer has also played against the Gamecocks once while with the Longhorns – a 2021 game that ended 62-34 in favor of South Carolina.
Shaefer led the Longhorns to a top seed in the 2024 NCAA tournament and a trip to the Elite Eight last season before losing to NC State 76-66.
South Carolina closes out their regular season at Colonial Life Arena against Kentucky on March 2. The Wildcats will be completing their first season under new head coach Kenny Brooks when they travel to Columbia.