Defending champs, plus UConn highlight loaded Gamecock women’s basketball schedule
The 2021-22 slate of games is set for the South Carolina women’s basketball team.
The Gamecocks released their full non-conference schedule Tuesday to complete this year’s schedule — and those non-SEC games include multiple marquee matchups.
South Carolina opens the season Nov. 9 with a road game against North Carolina State, which finished the 2020-21 season ranked No. 7 in the Coaches’ Poll. Last season, the Wolfpack defeated then-No. 1 South Carolina 54-46 on Dec. 3 in Columbia.
Other highlights of the Gamecocks’ non-conference schedule include home meetings with postseason No. 9 Maryland on Dec. 12, reigning national champion Stanford on Dec. 21 and No. 3 UConn on Jan. 27.
Clemson also comes to Colonial Life Arena on Nov. 17 for USC’s regular season home opener.
The Gamecocks will travel to Paradise Island, Bahamas on Nov. 20-22 for the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis. They’ll play Buffalo in the opener, then either Oregon or Oklahoma in a second game, and then either UConn, Syracuse, USF or Minnesota in a third and final contest.
Of its non-conference games, “the 13-game slate includes up to six games against 2021 NCAA Sweet 16 opponents and as many as nine against teams who played in either the 2021 NCAA Tournament or WNIT,” the team said Tuesday in its schedule announcement.
SEC play tips off on the road on Dec. 30 with South Carolina traveling to Missouri. The Gamecocks’ conference schedule includes a home-and-home series with rival Kentucky as well as the 2021 SEC regular season champion Texas A&M Aggies.
South Carolina travels to play LSU and the Tigers’ first-year head coach Kim Mulkey on Jan. 6.
USC brings back all 11 of its starters from last season, when the Gamecocks made it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. The 2020-21 Gamecocks narrowly missed a championship berth after falling in a close matchup with the eventual national champion Stanford. Dawn Staley also adds the nation’s top recruiting class in 2021 to the roster.
The school has not yet announced any capacity limits or COVID-19 guidelines for this season’s basketball games at Colonial Life Arena. Football games at Williams-Brice Stadium allow full capacity.
USC women’s basketball 2021-22 schedule
Nov. 1: home vs. Benedict (exhibition)
Nov. 9: at NC State
Nov. 12: at South Dakota
Nov. 17: home vs. Clemson
Nov. 20: vs. Buffalo (Bahamas)
Nov. 21: vs. Oregon or Oklahoma (Bahamas)
Nov. 22: TBA (Bahamas)
Nov. 26: home vs. Elon
Nov. 29: home vs. NC A&T
Dec. 3: home vs. Kansas State
Dec. 12. home vs. Maryland
Dec. 15: at Duke
Dec. 21: home vs. Stanford
Dec. 30: at Missouri
Jan. 2: home vs. Ole Miss
Jan. 6: at LSU
Jan. 9: home vs. Kentucky
Jan. 13: home vs. Texas A&M
Jan. 16: at Arkansas
Jan. 24: home vs. Vanderbilt
Jan. 27: home vs. UConn
Jan. 30: at Florida
Feb. 3: home vs. Alabama
Feb. 6: home vs. Mississippi State
Feb. 10: at Kentucky
Feb. 13: at Georgia
Feb. 17: home vs. Auburn
Feb. 20: home vs. Tennessee
Feb. 24: at Texas A&M
Feb. 27: at Ole Miss
March 2-6: SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Defending champs, plus UConn highlight loaded Gamecock women’s basketball schedule."
