Gamecocks Set for Historic Season Opener

Season Opener
South Carolina is 13-2 in season openers under head coach Dawn Staley with the two losses coming in her first three seasons at the helm. Four of those 15 season openers were against ranked opponents with two on the road.

In the first. on Nov. 12, 2010, the unranked Gamecocks lost to #5 Xavier 84-65 in Columbia. The next two came against Ohio State – at home #2 South Carolina   defeated the #6 Buckeyes 88-80 on Nov. 13, 2015, then a year later the #4 Gamecocks topped #7 Ohio State in Columbus 92-80 on Nov. 14, 2016. In the most recent, #1 South Carolina traveled to #5 NC State on Nov. 9, 2021, and brought home a 66-57 victory.

Ranked Readings
Against ranked teams, South Carolina is 106-67 (.613) in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09), and even that mark is skewed by the early seasons of her tenure. Since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the Gamecocks are 91-28 (.765) against ranked teams.

It Starts Here
South Carolina’s six returning players have combined for just three career starts in a Gamecock uniform. Including games at another NCAA Div. I institution, that number rises to all of 26.

Watch It!
Senior center Kamilla Cardoso has gotten the lion’s share of the preseason awards attention, but senior transfer Te-Hina Paopao and junior Sania Feagin have seen some accolades as well.

Cardoso earned spots on the preseason watch lists for the Wade Trophy and the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award. She was a Preseason All-SEC First-Team selection by both the media and coaches as well.

Paopao picked up her first SEC recognition when the coaches tabbed her for Preseason All-SEC Second-Team honors. She also was one of 20 named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award watch list.

For the third season in a row, Feagin was named to the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year Award watch list.

Opponent Files
South Carolina’s regular-season schedule includes 11 games against teams ranked in at least one of the two national polls. Five of those games come in the first five weeks of the season, including the first two out of the gate against #10/10 Notre Dame and #14/11 Maryland.

Five of the games against preseason ranked teams are at home – #14/11 Maryland (Nov. 12), #25/rv Mississippi State (Jan. 7), #12/16 Ole Miss (Feb. 4), #2/2 UConn (Feb. 11), #11/12 Tennessee (Mar. 3).

Five others are true road games – at #16/17 North Carolina (Nov. 30), at #rv/19 Duke (Dec. 3), at #1/1 LSU (Jan. 25), at #11/12 Tennessee (Feb. 15). Another two are at neutral sites – #10/10 Notre Dame (Nov. 6) and #5/7 Utah (Dec. 10).