Gamecocks complete 2020-21 basketball schedule with one exception: the opener
The full South Carolina men’s basketball schedule has been set, with the team announcing its non-conference slate Wednesday.
The Gamecocks will open the season in Columbia on Nov. 25 with an exhibition game against an opponent that will be announced at a later date.
Head coach Frank Martin said the opponent for that date has already been selected but that the paperwork is still being finalized.
“The reason we couldn’t put it on there is because the contract has not been signed,” Martin said. “And to give you clarity of what happened, I had a Division I school that had agreed to play on that date ... and then they came back the following week, and they backed out. The exhibition game was going to be later in the year, and trying to find another school for that date got really hard.”
The schedule includes eight non-conference games, including two games in Kansas City for the previously announced Hall of Fame Classic, which includes Northwestern, TCU and Tulsa. Other highlights include a Dec. 19 showdown with rival Clemson in Columbia and a Dec. 5 road trip to Houston. The Clemson game helps make up for the loss of the Clemson-USC football game, which will not be played this fall for the first time in 111 years.
“The Clemson game was never in doubt,” Martin said. “The date worked. (Clemson coach Brad Brownell) and I never even spoke about trying to move it around. The challenging part that we all had to wait on was conference scheduling.”
Including the exhibition, the Gamecocks will host five non-conference games at Colonial Life Arena, where 3,500 fans will be allowed to enter. Much like football games at Williams-Brice Stadium, seats will be divided into pods of two, four and six fans, and masks will be required for entry. Game times and broadcast information have not yet been announced.
“I first want to thank everyone who has worked so hard at the national and conference levels and of course here at South Carolina, to have made it possible for us to play this upcoming season,” Martin said in statement through the school. “Scheduling has definitely been challenging this year, but we are very excited for the non-conference games we have in front of us and feel they will prepare us as we enter what will be another great season of SEC basketball.”
Last week, the Gamecocks announced an 18-game Southeastern Conference schedule, which opens with a trip to Kentucky on Dec. 29. It’s the eighth time in 10 years that USC has opened its conference season on the road.
The NCAA will allow teams to play up to 27 games this season. USC’s exhibition game on Nov. 25 will count against that 27-game figure, but it won’t count toward USC’s record. Still, that exhibition could be useful for the Gamecocks, serving as a tuneup before they take on more challenging opponents.
“If you pay attention to our schedule, it’s pretty damn hard,” Martin said. “We turn around and we go to back-to-back high-major games in Kansas City, come home for three or four days and turn around and go to Houston. They got the best team they’ve had there since the early ’80s.
“... I don’t know that I’m gonna be able to take a deep breath, but that’s OK. That’s what it’s all about. And I’d rather play these hard games than games that don’t have any pop to them.”
USC basketball’s 2020-21 schedule
- Wed., Nov. 25: Exhibition game TBD
- Sat., Nov. 28: South Carolina vs. Northwestern (tournament)
- Sun., Nov. 29: South Carolina vs. TCU or Tulsa (tournament)
- Sat., Dec. 5: South Carolina at Houston
- Thu., Dec. 10: South Carolina vs. Wofford
- Mon., Dec. 14: South Carolina at George Washington
- Sat., Dec. 19: South Carolina vs. Clemson
- Wed., Dec. 23: South Carolina vs. S.C. State
- Tues., Dec. 29: South Carolina at Kentucky
- Sat., Jan. 2: South Carolina vs. Florida A&M
- Wed., Jan. 6: Texas A&M at South Carolina
- Sat., Jan. 9: South Carolina at Ole Miss
- Tues., Jan. 12: Tennessee at South Carolina
- Sat., Jan. 16: South Carolina at LSU
- Tues., Jan. 19: South Carolina at Missouri
- Sat., Jan. 23: Auburn at South Carolina
- Wed., Jan. 27: Georgia at South Carolina
- Sat., Jan. 30: South Carolina at Vanderbilt
- Wed., Feb. 3: South Carolina at Florida
- Sat., Feb. 6: Mississippi State at South Carolina
- Tues., Feb. 9: Alabama at South Carolina
- Sat., Feb. 13: Ole Miss at South Carolina
- Tues., Feb. 16: South Carolina at Tennessee
- Sat., Feb. 20: Missouri at South Carolina
- Wed., Feb. 24: South Carolina at Mississippi State
- Sat., Feb. 27: South Carolina at Georgia
- Tues., March 2: Arkansas at South Carolina
- March 10-14: SEC Tournament in Nashville
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 12:18 PM.
