Dawn Staley reveals another flashy season opener for South Carolina WBB team
South Carolina women’s basketball will open the 2024-25 “repeat tour” season with a game in Las Vegas, coach Dawn Staley said Wednesday in a radio interview with 107.5 The Game.
USC’s original opponent for that game backed out, she added, so who the Gamecocks will take on in Nevada is still to be determined. She did not reveal who the original team was or a date for the game. It could be part of the Hall of Fame Series, but Staley didn’t specify that directly. LSU opened the 2023-24 season against Colorado in Las Vegas as part of the series of games across the country.
“It’s really hard because people don’t want to play us,” Staley said of the challenges that come with putting together a schedule. “And, I mean, really good teams don’t want to play. And I just I don’t get it.”
The Gamecocks finished the 2023-24 season as the first undefeated national champions since UConn in 2016. It marked South Carolina’s third NCAA title in program history, all achieved in the Staley era.
She teased a couple other big games for next season as well and clarified that the 2024-25 schedule is not yet finished. The finalized schedule is typically released around September.
UConn will be back in Columbia for the annual rivalry game. South Carolina will participate in the ACC/SEC challenge again as well, likely playing one of the ACC’s top teams.
And the Gamecocks will travel to California to take on the UCLA Bruins on the road, finishing the home-and-home series started in 2022.
South Carolina will also finish its home-and-home series with East Carolina in Columbia next season, according to documents obtained by The State. The Gamecocks defeated the Pirates 73-36 in Greenville last year. South Carolina will also play Duke again (after defeating the Blue Devils in Durham last season 77-61) as part of a multi-year contract. USC will also finish its home-and-home with Bowling Green State University (led by former USC assistant Fred Chmiel) in Columbia after defeating the Falcons 93-62 in Ohio last year.
The Gamecocks will take on the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Nov. 10 in the 2024 Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, the Charlotte Sports Foundation announced March 14. USC and N.C. State will compete at the Spectrum Center as one game of a double-header, which also includes Iowa vs. Virginia Tech.
USC opened the 2023-24 season in Paris versus Notre Dame, the first-ever NCAA basketball game played on European soil.
This story was originally published May 1, 2024 at 11:30 AM.
