South Carolina women’s basketball drops in AP Top 25 poll after UConn loss

South Carolina dropped to No. 6 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll.

The Gamecocks’ slide in the rankings comes after they split this past week’s game: an impressive 101-63 win over Florida and an equally embarrassing 87-58 loss to UConn.

No. 6 is the lowest South Carolina has ranked in the AP Poll this season.

Following the win, UConn jumped the Gamecocks and is now at No. 5 in the poll.

This is the third time South Carolina has dropped in the AP Poll this season. The Gamecocks fell from No. 1 to No. 4 after losing to UCLA, from No. 2 to No. 4 following the loss to Texas and fell again Monday.

The effect of Sunday’s loss on where South Carolina sits in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s eyes is yet to be seen, especially with another few weeks of basketball on the schedule. South Carolina was No. 2 overall and a No. 1 seed in the Birmingham 2 region of the selection committee’s Top 16 rankings unveiled before the UConn game on Sunday. The committee will release another Top 16 on at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 27 on ESPN2.

This week’s AP Top 25

1. Notre Dame
2. Texas
3. UCLA
4. USC
5. UConn
6. South Carolina
7. LSU
8. Ohio State
9. North Carolina
10. TCU
11. Duke
12. Kansas State
13. NC State
14. Kentucky
15. Tennessee
16. Oklahoma
17. West Virginia
18. Alabama
19. Baylor
20. Georgia Tech
21. Maryland
22. Michigan State
23. Creighton
24. Oklahoma State
25. Illinois

South Carolina schedule: Next four games

Feb. 20: vs. Arkansas, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

Feb. 23: at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

Feb. 27: at Ole Miss, 9 p.m. (ESPN or SEC Network)

March 2: vs. Kentucky, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

This story was originally published February 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM.

Michael Sauls

The State

Michael Sauls is The State’s South Carolina women’s basketball reporter. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot covering Norfolk State and Hampton University sports. A Columbia native, he is an alum of the University of South Carolina.