Staley Explains Challenges Behind South Carolina’s 2025-26 Schedule
COLUMBIA — South Carolina women’s basketball’s 2025-26 non-conference schedule may look lighter than in years past, but coach Dawn Staley insists it has little to do with NCAA Tournament seeding.
Last March, after the Gamecocks missed out on the overall No. 1 seed for the first time in three years, Staley hinted she might reconsider her scheduling philosophy. But on Sept. 22, she clarified the issue isn’t about strategy—it’s about availability.
“Scheduling is hard, people don’t want to play us,” Staley said. “Even having lost what we lost, it’s really a hard thing.”
This season, the Gamecocks will play seven Power Five opponents in their 15 non-conference games, compared to nine a year ago. One of those matchups is against longtime rival Clemson, a series South Carolina has dominated since 2009.
At last season’s selection show, South Carolina led the nation with 16 Quad 1 wins but still trailed UCLA for the top seed. The Bruins beat the Gamecocks in California last November, and Staley argued her program should not be penalized for playing tough competition.
“I will say this, we’re going to make adjustments to our schedule in the future if the standard is the standard,” Staley said back in March. “If that’s the standard, we can play any schedule and get the No. 1 seed. We manufactured a schedule that should produce the overall No. 1 seed.”
A Look at the Upcoming Slate
South Carolina opens the season Nov. 3 against Grand Canyon before heading to Southern Cal on Nov. 15. The Gamecocks will then take part in a tournament featuring Duke and either UCLA or Texas. Four of those five opponents are projected to be ranked when they face the Gamecocks.
Last season, Staley’s squad played five ranked teams before SEC play, then added a sixth with UConn in February. That UConn matchup will not return this year, as the Huskies’ contract with South Carolina expired after 2024-25. UConn also faces a busier schedule with the Big East increasing league games to 20.
Other non-conference opponents this year include Bowling Green, Winthrop, Queens, Louisville, NC Central, Penn State, USF, Florida Gulf Coast, Providence and Coppin State.
Lifting Up HBCUs
Staley has also added more historically Black colleges and universities to South Carolina’s schedule. For the second straight year, the Gamecocks will play Coppin State, this time traveling for a rare high-major road game against a mid-major on Jan. 18.
NC Central, another HBCU, will also appear on the schedule with a matchup in Columbia.
“Instead of the big competitive games, we’ve added some HBCUs just to lift up every aspect of our sport,” Staley explained. “Not every team will go and play an HBCU on their home court and we feel like it’s a great game, competition and coaching. If we can lift because we play the game and get some notoriety to the HBCUs, then we’ll do that.
“I hope the committee takes that into consideration.”
