South Carolina women’s basketball has picked up right where it left off. The Gamecocks are off to a dominant 2-0 start to the 2025–26 season, with head coach Dawn Staley’s squad rolling through two former assistants — Winston Gandy’s Grand Canyon team and Fred Chmiel’s Bowling Green — in commanding fashion.
South Carolina opened the year ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press preseason poll, though that ranking came out just one day after forward Chloe Kitts announced her season-ending knee injury. With Ashlyn Watkins already set to take an off-year, many across women’s college basketball wondered whether the Gamecocks’ ranking might take a hit.
That question was answered Monday afternoon when the new AP Top 25 was released — and South Carolina held firm at No. 2. However, the Gamecocks did lose two first-place votes to UConn, who remained at No. 1.
Here’s the updated AP Top 25 (first-place votes in parentheses):
- UConn Huskies (30)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (2)
- UCLA Bruins
- Texas Longhorns
- LSU Tigers
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Baylor Bears
- Southern Cal Trojans
- Maryland Terrapins
- NC State Wolfpack
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Tennessee Lady Volunteers
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Michigan Wolverines
- Duke Blue Devils
- Iowa State Cyclones
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Louisville Cardinals
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Michigan State Spartans
- Washington Huskies
Also receiving votes: Ohio State, Princeton, Richmond, West Virginia, Kansas State, Minnesota, South Dakota State, Kansas, Stanford, Columbia, Nebraska, and Fairfield.
South Carolina’s consistency under Staley continues to be unmatched. The program hasn’t fallen outside the top seven in the AP poll since the preseason rankings of the 2019–20 season — the year they finished No. 1 before the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
Currently, the Gamecocks lead all SEC teams in the poll, with eight total programs from the conference earning top-25 recognition.
This year’s schedule won’t make things easy. South Carolina is set to face 11 ranked opponents throughout the 2025–26 regular season. Those matchups include Southern Cal (No. 8), Duke (No. 15), Louisville (No. 22), Texas (No. 4), Oklahoma (No. 6), Vanderbilt (No. 19), Tennessee (No. 12), LSU (No. 5), Ole Miss (No. 13), and Kentucky (No. 23). The Gamecocks could also meet No. 3 UCLA at the Players Era Championship, depending on bracket results.
The week ahead offers two key matchups for the Gamecocks. On Tuesday night, South Carolina will host archrival Clemson at Colonial Life Arena in a 6:00 p.m. showdown televised on ESPN2. The Gamecocks dominated last year’s matchup 77–45 in Clemson, marking their 43rd consecutive win — a program record. South Carolina hasn’t lost to the Tigers since 2009.
Then on Saturday, Staley’s team will head west for a marquee matchup with Southern Cal in Los Angeles. The highly anticipated “Real SC” battle tips off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on FOX, with streaming available on the FoxSports app.
