South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks set season opener for 2024-2025 season

Several weeks ago, it was reported by multiple outlets that South Carolina basketball had scheduled a non-conference game against the North Florida Ospreys as part of its 2024-2025 slate. On Wednesday, more details surfaced about the matchup, most notably, when it will be played..

According to a report from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, the South Carolina Gamecocks and North Florida Ospreys will play on November 4th. The game will be played at home at Colonial Life Arena and will be the season opener for USC.

The Ospreys had a 16-16 overall record during the 2023-2024 season but were above .500 in the Atlantic-Sun Conference with a 9-7 mark in the league. The Gamecocks finished the year 26-8, tied a program record for regular season wins (25) and tied the record for total single-season wins.

Carolina did not play a team from the ASUN last year, and the matchup with North Florida is the only ASUN game on the USC schedule at this point.

The contest against North Florida will tip-off the Gamecocks' quest for back-to-back NCAA Tournaments (something they haven't accomplished since the '90s). It also will be the first test in a season in which the Gamecocks are looking to prove a growing list of doubters wrong and show they are more than a one-season flash in the pan.

The North Florida meeting is not the only non-conference game that has been revealed, either, as the annual rivalry with the Clemson Tigers, a road trip to face the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington, the ACC/SEC Challenge (opponent to be named later, likely on the road), and the Fort Myers Tip-Off (the Michigan Wolverines, Virginia Tech Hokies, and Xavier Musketeers are on the Gamecocks' side of the bracket) also are known parts of the out-of-conference slate.

The SEC schedule was released several weeks ago, as well, and all 18 games of the conference slate can be seen here.