No. 2 Gamecocks play today, Thanksgiving in Vegas. How to watch, top storylines
Dawn Staley and the South Carolina women’s basketball team are off to a hot start in the 2025-26 season.
The No. 2 Gamecocks are 6-0 and coming off back-to-back wins in which they scored over 100 points. In a victory over Queens on Sunday, South Carolina set a program record by scoring the most points in a game (121) during Staley’s tenure.
South Carolina now turns its attention to Las Vegas, where they’ll play this week in the Players Era Championship. The Gamecocks will be tested with at least one Top 25 matchup this week.
South Carolina plays Duke on Wednesday and will play either No. 4 Texas or No. 3 UCLA on Thursday.
Here’s what to watch for as the Gamecocks head to Sin City.
Gamecocks back to a full rotation
Sunday’s matchup vs Queens was the first time this season South Carolina had all 10 players available for an entire game.
Maddy McDaniel exited the season opener and missed the next game with an injury, then was suspended for the next three games. South Carolina played with just nine players in her absence.
The return of McDaniel comes at the perfect time as South Carolina has to play two games against top opponents in back-to-back games. Veteran point guard Raven Johnson said McDaniel adds “another energy” to the team.
“It’s imperative that we have all 10,” Staley said. “It was really good to get Maddy back, especially for a few practices. We’re just going to kind of acclimate her back into the swing of things. I thought she did great. But it’s needed. It’s needed. It’s needed for our rotations. It’s needed for us to practice, it’s needed for just some of our younger players to just stay in the positions that they need to be in to be effective.”
Offense hitting all cylinders
Through six games this season, Staley is most confident with her teams’ ability to score .
South Carolina’s offense is ranked No. 5 in the country, averaging 94.8 points per game. The Gamecocks have an average scoring margin of 45.7 points and are shooting the ball at a 56.5% clip as a team (a mark that is No. 2 in the NCAA). South Carolina’s 3-point percentage of 41.6% is also good for No. 5 in the country.
“I like the fact that we can score,” Staley said. “We score in a lot of different ways, just from inside, outside.”
USC has four players averaging double-digit points per game. The team is led by Joce Edwards, who is putting up 19.8 points per contest. Edwards is followed by Ta’Niya Latson (18.2 ppg), Tessa Johnson (13.7 ppg) and Madina Okot (13.3 ppg).
Potential postseason preview
The Gamecocks are one of four powerhouse programs that will be playing in the Women’s Players Era Championship this week.
While Duke is having a rough start to the year — the Blue Devils are 3-3 and have slipped out of the AP Top 25 after being ranked No. 7 in the preseason — South Carolina will still be tested against a team it played in the Elite Eight last year.
South Carolina will play either Texas or UCLA on Thanksgiving night. Either matchup will be must-see TV. The potential personnel matchups alone (like Madina Okot vs UCLA’s Lauren Betts, or Raven Johnson vs Texas’ Rori Harmon) make both matchups enticing.
Texas and the Gamecocks played four times last season (twice in regular season, twice in postseason) and there’s a solid chance it could happen again. The Longhorns will travel to Columbia in January, and the two teams could play in the SEC or NCAA tournaments again this season.
The Gamecocks haven’t played UCLA since losing to the Bruins early in last year’s regular season. Had UCLA won its Final Four game last year, South Carolina would’ve played the Bruins in the national title game.
Regardless, a matchup between the Gamecocks and UCLA could be a preview of a Final Four or national title matchup — depending on how the season plays out.
South Carolina’s schedule in Las Vegas
Game one: vs Duke
- When: Wednesday
- Time: 4:30 p.m.
- TV: truTV
Game two: vs No. 4 Texas or No. 3 UCLA
- When: Thursday
- Time: 8 or 10:30 p.m.
- TV: truTV
This story was originally published November 26, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
