Dawn Staley has never needed a traditional recruiting script. But the story behind how Justine Loubens became a Gamecock may be her most unconventional recruitment yet — and quite possibly one of her most important.
Staley revealed the behind-the-scenes details of Loubens’ signing at the SEC Spring Meetings in Miramar Beach, Florida, and the picture that emerges is one of organic relationship-building, international trust, and the quiet power of what South Carolina has already built with its first French import, Alicia Tournebize.
How It Actually Happened
Unlike the recruitment of Tournebize — which unfolded publicly, complete with a teased social media trip to France and “We want Alicia!” chants reverberating through Colonial Life Arena during her official visit — Loubens’ path to Columbia was quieter, more private, and ultimately more telling about the reputation Staley has built beyond American borders.
After Tournebize officially signed on December 22 and joined the team in January, the door opened from an unexpected direction. Loubens’ agent reached out to Staley directly. That initial contact set the process in motion, but what truly accelerated the recruitment was a visit that most programs would never have even been able to arrange.
Jean-Aimé Toupane, the head coach of the French Women’s National Team, traveled to Columbia specifically to check in on Tournebize’s progress. What he saw during that weekend — the practice environment, the player development infrastructure, the culture Staley has constructed — changed the trajectory of Loubens’ recruitment entirely.
“When their national team coach came to visit Alicia for a weekend, and he just saw her progression, saw the type of program we ran because he came to a few of our practices, it became a lot easier to recruit Justine,” Staley said.
This is a remarkable detail that deserves full appreciation. The French National Team’s head coach — a man whose professional mandate is the long-term development of his country’s best players — watched South Carolina’s program in operation and walked away endorsing it. That is not a generic recruiting endorsement. That is a credentialed, internationally respected basketball mind evaluating a college program through the specific lens of whether it serves elite international talent, and concluding that it does.
The Tournebize Effect
Staley was direct about the role her first French signing played in landing her second.
Loubens and Tournebize are not strangers. They are international teammates who represented France together at the 2025 FIBA U18 Eurobasket and the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup. While they come from different parts of France — Loubens from L’Isle-Jourdain in the south, Tournebize from Vichy roughly four and a half hours away — the shared national team experience created a foundation of familiarity and trust that no recruiting pitch could fully replicate.
When a prospective recruit can call someone she has already competed alongside on an international stage and ask, genuinely, “What is it actually like there?” — that conversation carries more weight than anything a coaching staff can manufacture. Tournebize’s honest account of her experience in Columbia, delivered in a short window that still included an SEC championship, a Final Four, and a national championship appearance, was its own form of recruiting.
“When you see another fellow countrywoman there, and happy, and can actually speak on her experience in a short period of time, I do think it makes it easier,” Staley said. “I also think it makes it easier when the national team coach says this is where she needs to be. I think it speaks volumes for what he needs from her, and what we’re able to do for them.”
That final phrase is the most significant part. Toupane isn’t simply comfortable with Loubens going to South Carolina. According to Staley’s framing, he believes it is specifically where she needs to be for her development. A national team coach staking out that position isn’t a casual endorsement — it is a deliberate investment in a player’s future, made by someone with full visibility into what that future could look like.
What Loubens Actually Brings
Beyond the recruitment narrative, the basketball case for Loubens is straightforward and genuinely compelling.
The 6-foot-1 shooting guard arrives from La Roche Vendée Basket Club, where she averaged 6.5 points and 2.5 rebounds across 24 professional games while shooting an eye-catching 63.9% from the field. That field goal percentage, produced at the professional level in France, is the primary statistical proof of what analysts and scouts have been noting about her game — she is a precision player who doesn’t waste possessions.
“She is one of the best shooters coming out of France, and her experience playing for her club and national teams have helped prepare her for the SEC battles to come,” Staley said in the April news release announcing the signing.
At 6-foot-1 with sharp left-handed shooting mechanics and an advanced feel for off-ball movement, Loubens profiles as the kind of perimeter player who makes South Carolina’s already-loaded offense more difficult to guard simply by occupying space and punishing any defensive lapse from range. She is considered a four-star recruit by ESPN’s WBB recruiting analyst Shane Laflin — a ranking that, like Tournebize before her, doesn’t fully capture the professional experience and international pedigree she carries into the college game.
The Class That Keeps Growing
Loubens’ signing completed a 2026 recruiting class that ranks No. 2 in the country and features three five-star prospects, including No. 3 overall recruit Oliviyah Edwards and No. 6 ranked Jerzy Robinson. Becoming the 15th and final player added to the roster — arriving after most observers assumed the class was complete — Loubens represents exactly the kind of finishing touch that separates good roster construction from great roster construction.
South Carolina didn’t just add depth. They added a professional-level shooter with international tournament experience, a pre-existing relationship with a teammate already embedded in the program, and the explicit endorsement of a national team coaching staff that evaluated the program firsthand before giving their blessing.
The French connection in Columbia is no longer a novelty. It is becoming a pipeline — and if Loubens’ arrival is any indication, it is one that is only going to deepen.
