South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley always puts her team through a gauntlet of a regular season schedule. Playing a large number of tough out-of-conference games (along with a strong SEC schedule each year), prepares the Gamecocks for postseason play.
The results of such scheduling speak for themselves as USC has grown from an afterthought in the sport upon Staley's arrival to Columbia to the unquestioned best program in the sport of women's college basketball.
The upcoming season will be no different for Carolina as Coach Staley has scheduled another difficult slate. On Wednesday, five more games were made official (two that were already known), meaning that the 2024-2025 South Carolina basketball schedule is nearly complete.
Home games against the East Carolina Pirates (November 17th, 2024), South Florida Bulls (December 15th, 2024), Charleston Southern Buccaneers (December 19th, 2024), Wofford Terriers (December 29th, 2024), and UConn Huskies (February 16th, 2025) are official. The ECU and UConn contests were known, but the dates had not been set before now. The USF game is part of a home-and-home series, meaning that the Gamecocks will make a return trip to Tampa, Florida to take on the Bulls, presumedly during the 2025-2026 season.
This year, the Gamecocks also will play a home game against the Duke Blue Devils as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge, neutral site contests against the Michigan Wolverines (in Las Vegas, Nevada) and NC State Wolfpack (in Charlotte, North Carolina), early-season tournament games against the Iowa State Cyclones and Purdue Boilermakers as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off, and road games against the UCLA Bruins and TCU Horned Frogs. The annual rivalry game against the Clemson Tigers and an expected home game against the Bowling Green Falcons will be set soon.
South Carolina basketball has not lost since the 2022-2023 Final Four and will be defending their third National Championship this season.