South Carolina men's basketball adds former conference rival to 2026-27 schedule

The South Carolina men's basketball schedule is starting to take shape. Earlier this week, the Gamecocks' full SEC schedule for the 2026-27 was released, and on Tuesday, South Carolina added another non-conference opponent to its schedule. 

For fifth-year head coach Lamont Paris, his team will have a rivalry renewed against a former longtime ACC and Southern Conference opponent. The Gamecocks announced they would take on the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday, Dec. 19 in Baltimore, Maryland. 

The matchup, which will be held at CFG Bank Arena, will mark the 59th all-time meeting between the two schools. The last time these two programs met, it was in 2005 during the NIT semifinals, during which the Gamecocks won 75-67. South Carlina went on to win the NIT Tournament that season. The meeting before that came in 1997, with South Carolina getting a 77-72 overtime victory in Minneapolis, Minn.  

The two schools first met during the 1924-25 season, but started meeting annually from 1957 onward. The Gamecocks and Terps both played in the SoCon from 1922-1953, whereas South Carolina played in the ACC from 1953-1971. Maryland were ACC members from 1953-2014 before moving to the Big Ten. The rivalry has been pretty even, as Maryland holds a 31-27 all-time advantage in the series between the Terps and Gamecocks. But South Carolina holds an 8-1 record in the series when playing in a neutral location The December meeting will mark just the seventh time in the series that the two will be playing each other as non-conference opponents.  

Maryland is led by second-year head coach Buzz Williams, who led the Terps to a 12-21 record last year. Similarly, South Carolina will be looking to improve from a 13-19 record in 2025. The non-conference matchup will make for a nice resume builder for whichever team comes away with a victory when it's time for each team to make a case for the NCAA Tournament.

As for the rest of South Carolina's non-conference schedule, its entirety has yet to be released just yet. But the Gamecocks are also set to take on NC State on Dec. 1 first for the annual ACC/SEC Challenge, as well as The Acrisure Series in Palm Springs, Calif. from Nov. 21-26. Who South Carolina will play in the series has yet to be announced.  

South Carolina's 2026 schedule will begin in early November, with SEC play slated to begin on Jan. 2. 

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