What to expect from high-profile transfer Ta’Niya Latson at South Carolina
Ta’Niya Latson was South Carolina’s biggest transfer portal acquisition this offseason — and arguably the biggest portal pickup in all of women’s college basketball.
Latson was the best scorer in the country a year ago. She earned All-American honors after leading all of Division I women’s college basketball with 25.2 points per game.
She’s aiming even higher as a senior.
She’s already declared she wants to win SEC Player of the Year. Latson was unable to win ACC Player of the Year while she was with Florida State the last three years, but she was still one of the conference’s best players. She was ACC Rookie of the Year in 2023 and was named to the All-ACC First Team in each of her three seasons at FSU.
South Carolina kicked off the 2025-26 season with its first official practice of the year on Sept. 22. Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said Latson has already been great in her short time with South Carolina.
““Her maturity, her practice habits, she’s really coachable — she just wants to win,” Staley said. “She wants to get better and improve her positioning and being a pro. Not to say that Florida State wasn’t doing that. But sometimes when you change up, it’s just different.”
To Staley’s point, Latson in an interview this summer said she wants to improve her 3-point shooting capabilities. Latson touts a career 32.6% 3-point shooting percentage. She had 37 makes from 3-point range and shot 34.3% — a mark that would’ve ranked fourth on USC.
She’s likely to be a focal point of South Carolina’s offense this season, not a surprise for someone who just led the country in scoring. While Staley hasn’t said exactly how much Latson will be leaned on for scoring, the Gamecocks’ staff will help continue to develop her into a pro and, in return, she’ll help the Gamecocks win games.
“Will we need her to do some of the same things that she did for Florida State? Absolutely,” Staley said. “Can we help her see some other stuff by just having a more seasoned basketball team when it comes to tournament playing, just the amount of games that we’ve had in the postseason? It will definitely help. And she will definitely help us.”
A big draw for Latson to come to South Carolina in the first place was her former high school teammate, veteran Gamecock point guard Raven Johnson.
The duo starred at Westlake High School in Georgia. Johnson and Latson overlapped for three years at Westlake and helped guide the school to a combined 82-2 record, three straight high school state championships and the Geico National Championship in 2021.
Back in July, Latson said she and Johnson were working to regain the chemistry that turned them into a one-two punch in their high school days.
Johnson does a great job of reading her on the court, Latson said. Johnson echoed the sentiment, saying Latson has already become a leader for the team in her short time with the Gamecocks.
“It’s amazing,” Johnson said of reuniting with Latson. “It’s wonderful. I just read her. It’s like another Kamilla (Cardoso), honestly. I love her and I’m glad she’s here.”
