Future South Carolina basketball began AmeriCup play with Team USA on Monday

Gamecock basketball head coach Dawn Staley's newest players enrolled in school last week. Transfer portal forward Maryam Dauda, 5-star high school forward Joyce Edwards, and 5-star guard Maddy McDaniel will join early enrollee and 5-star post player Adhel Tac as the newcomers on the 2024-2025 South Carolina basketball team.

Though the trio of newbies just moved in, one of them immediately had to travel out of the country. Edwards, the recipient of multiple high school National Player of the Year honors this year, is playing with Team USA's U18 squad in the FIBA AmeriCup in Colombia (notice the "o" in place of the "u"). That competition

Team USA's first game came on Monday as they took on Brazil.

In a contest that was over shortly after the opening tip, the USA nearly doubled up Brazil 97-51. As these types of competitions often do, things got out of hand quickly as the Americans led 35-10 at the end of the 1st quarter. Edwards and the Team USA defense smothered Brazil, making life difficult the entire period.

Edwards started the game and went for 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. A major Gamecock class of 2025 target, wing Jazzy Davidson, had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks while shooting a perfect 2-2 from the arc.

You can check the whole box score here.

Team USA will play again on Tuesday, June 18th against Puerto Rico. The game will tip at 4:10 PM ET and is available for streaming (free of charge) on the FIBA YouTube page.

They also will take the floor on Wednesday, June 19th against Mexico. That contest will begin at 1:40 PM ET and also will be available for streaming (free of charge) on the FIBA YouTube page.

When group play ends, the quarterfinals will be seeded based on the results of group play. From there, it is a single-elimination tournament in which the top-4 finishers clinch their spot in the U19 World Cup in 2025. There will be consolation games for the quarterfinals losers.