Previewing the SEC ahead of South Carolina WBB’s league opener vs. Alabama
South Carolina women’s basketball is kicking off its SEC slate on New Year’s Day.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks (13-1) will play Alabama at home in Colonia Life Arena. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. and be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
South Carolina saw plenty of success in the first half of the season. Here’s a recap of the campaign thus far and a preview of what lies ahead for the Gamecocks.
Quick non-conference recap
South Carolina breezed through the non-conference slate with relative ease and currently sits at 13-1 on the season.
South Carolina recorded two wins over ranked non-conference opponents: Southern Cal and Louisville, which then ranked No. 8 and No. 22, respectively. USC’s scoring margin was 39.8 points in non-conference play. South Carolina’s closest win was its two-point victory over Louisville in December.
The Gamecocks’ lone loss this season came to then-No. 4 Texas by two points in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving Day. Although Texas is a fellow SEC team, the game did not count as a conference matchup. The Gamecocks technically have one more non-conference game remaining on the schedule, — a January matchup at Coppin State.
South Carolina was ranked No. 6 in the first NET rankings of the season but has worked its way up to No. 2. The Gamecocks have a 3-1 record in Quad 1 games and a 2-0 record in Quad 2 games.
“I do think it wasn’t as competitive as it normally is, and that’s just from not being able to schedule who we actually like to schedule, who we normally schedule, for one reason or another,” Staley said of USC’s non-conference slate. “... I’m just happy that it afforded us to play a lot of different people. We were able to work on some things because we needed to. We had a lot of players that were playing different roles for us, so we were able to just kind of allow them to play those roles and not feel the pressure of having to perform with a small margin of error.”
The Gamecocks scored more than 100 points six times in the first 14 games and eclipsed more than 90 points nine times.
SEC opener opponent scout
South Carolina will play Alabama in its SEC opener at home on Thursday.
Alabama and South Carolina are home-and-home partners in the SEC this season. Meaning, the Gamecocks and Crimson Tide will play each other twice in the next two months. On Feb. 19, South Carolina will make the return trip to Tuscaloosa.
South Carolina beat Alabama 76-58 last year in Tuscaloosa. The Gamecocks hold a 23-game win streak over the Crimson Tide. Alabama hasn’t beaten South Carolina since 2008, and has only beaten USC four times since 2000.
Alabama enters this year’s matchup unranked, but receiving votes in the AP Top 25. The Crimson Tide are 14-0 on the year thanks, in part, to relatively lackluster competition early in the season. Alabama has played nine Quad 4 games, but does have a win in its only Quad 1 matchup against Minnesota.
“They play like an SEC team, which is gritty, which is hard-nosed,” Staley said. “They find a way to decrease your momentum throughout the 40 minutes. And it always takes a really long time for us, we’ve had success, but it’s taken a really long time for us to just kind of create some separation.”
The Crimson Tide are led by a one-two punch of guard Jessica Timmons and forward Essence Cody. Timmons leads Alabama with 15.5 points per game (and is No. 5 in the SEC for 3-point percentage) while Cody is right behind her with 15.4 points per game.
As a team, Alabama’s offense averages 75 points per game while its scoring defense is ranked top five in the country with 50.8 points per game.
A look at the field & SEC title odds
The SEC is typically a strong league from top to bottom, but it appears to be even deeper in 2025-26.
There are eight SEC teams in the latest AP Top 25: Texas, South Carolina, LSU, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Tennessee. The Longhorns, Gamecocks and Tigers are all in the top five of the latest rankings.
All but two teams in the SEC already have 10 or more wins this season and nine teams in the league have one or no losses.
The SEC flaunts some of the best individual players in college basketball as well.
Florida’s Liv McGill and Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes are both vying to lead the country in points per game. South Carolina’s Madina Okot is top 10 in the nation in rebounds per game and field goal percentage. Kentucky’s Clara Strack is top five in blocks per game and LSU’s MiLaysia Fulwiley is top three in steals per game.
Blakes, Texas’ Madison Booker and South Carolina’s Ta’Niya Latson are among the betting favorites to win the Wooden Award this season.
No. 3 South Carolina and No. 2 Texas are currently tied as the betting favorites to be crowned SEC regular-season champs by FanDuel. No. 5 LSU has the second-best odds in the league.
The sportsbooks expect that trio of SEC contenders to compete for a national title this year too. FanDuel currently has Texas and South Carolina tied for second-best odds to win a championship this year (behind No. 1 UConn) while LSU has the fourth-best odds. DraftKings has South Carolina, LSU and Texas all tied with the second-best odds to win it all.
South Carolina has won all nine of its SEC Tournament titles in the past 11 years and has won the past three in a row. The Gamecocks have lost just four SEC games since 2020 and have only lost 14 conference games since the 2014-15 season.
“We talked about being the hunted,” Staley said. “I don’t think it changes, although maybe some other people are (the) favorite to win the SEC, but I’m sure the success that we’ve had in this league over the past 10 years, people want revenge. If they feel like this is the year they can get it, and it really doesn’t matter if they feel like it’s a year they could get it or not, they’re gonna bring their best. And we’re forced to embrace that challenge, and for the most part we’ve been successful.”
South Carolina’s top five SEC matchups in 2026
The Gamecocks will play 16 SEC games between now and March. Here are what The State considers to be their top five conference matchups:
1) Feb. 14 at LSU (8:30 p.m. on ABC)
This one is self-explanatory. South Carolina and LSU have developed a rivalry in recent years, despite the Gamecocks 17-game win streak over the Tigers. Some extra juice was given to the rivalry in the offseason when star guard Fulwiley, a Columbia product who won a national title with USC in 2024, transferred to LSU. Throw in the fact this game will have potential SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament seeding implications, and it’s immediately must-see-TV.
2) Jan. 15 vs Texas (Noon on ESPN2)
South Carolina and Texas split the regular-season series (before USC swept the Longhorns in the postseason) last year. Will the same happen again? This rematch will be played in Colonial Life Arena which should give an advantage to the Gamecocks who lost by two points on a neutral court last time around. Although the two have already played this season, it’s a relatively early test in SEC play for South Carolina who should breeze through its first four league matchups.
3) Jan. 22 at Oklahoma (7 p.m. on ESPN)
In two matchups last year South Carolina beat Oklahoma by an average of nearly 30 points. The Sooners, currently ranked No. 8, return 60% of their scoring from last season. The trio of star forwards Raegan Beers and Sahara Williams along with true freshman guard Aaliyah Chaves could be a formidable foe for the Gamecocks. This game will also be the Gamecocks’ first trip to Norman since 2007.
4) March 1 at Kentucky (2 p.m. on ESPN+)
The battle in the post between two 6-foot-5 players in South Carolina’s Okot and Kentucky’s Clara Strack will make this an enticing matchup. Strack was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year last year and has only improved her numbers across the board. Okot currently has Strack beat in points per game, while Strack is recording more rebounds per game right now. This game could also have seeding implications for the SEC Tournament, depending on how the season shakes out.
5) Feb. 8 vs Tennessee (3 p.m. on ABC)
Tennessee’s unique style of play can tire out opponents very quickly. With a thin team (at least relative to recent South Carolina teams of the past) it will be interesting to see how this game plays out in the final stretch of the season. South Carolina and Tennessee have played each other closely in their recent matchups. The Gamecocks hold an eight-game win streak over the Vols and have won those games by an average of 10.6 points, though the past three games have all been decided by less than that.
