First look: New Gamecocks banner honors historic 2019-20 basketball season
The South Carolina women’s basketball team’s record-breaking 2019-20 season has been immortalized in the rafters of Colonial Life Arena.
Ahead of Thursday’s New Years Eve game against Florida, USC unveiled three new banners: one for the 2019-20 SEC regular season title, one for the 2020 SEC tournament championship — and one recognizing the team for finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the two major national polls.
No national champion was crowned by the NCAA after the annual March Madness tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and coach Dawn Staley’s program opted not to claim a championship for itself. Instead, the team celebrated its status as the consensus best team in the country at the end of the season.
The banner, unveiled next to 2017 national championship signage, reads “FINAL NATIONAL RANKING #1 UNANIMOUS 2019-20.”
After the NCAA tournament was canceled, the Gamecocks ended the year at No. 1 in both the Associated Press and coaches polls. They were atop the AP rankings for 10 weeks and received 26 of 30 first-place votes in the final poll. On the coaches’ side, they were No. 1 for six weeks, garnering 26 of 32 first-place votes to end the season. They also ranked No. 1 in RPI.
With a record of 32-1, South Carolina won its final 26 games after a Thanksgiving loss to Indiana. The Gamecocks swept through SEC regular-season play in undefeated fashion, going 16-0, then won all three games in the SEC tournament to claim that championship as well.
Of those 32 wins, 13 came in games against ranked opponents, including five against top-five opponents. One of those victories came against powerhouse UConn, the first time in program history that the Gamecocks defeated the Huskies.
Heading into the NCAA tournament, South Carolina was widely expected to be the No. 1 overall seed for the first time in program history. The selection committee’s final seed reveal before Selection Monday earlier had it as a No. 1 seed, as did ESPN’s final bracketology.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of the tourney, the Gamecocks ended the year as one of just two teams in the country with only one loss, with the other being Princeton. They ranked third nationally in points per possession and eighth in points allowed per possession, as well as top 10 nationally in field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, rebounding rate and block rate.
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 4:07 PM.
