COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina women’s basketball has learned at which location it will play each of its 16 SEC games in the 2022-23 season. The slate includes home-and-home series with Auburn, Georgia and Kentucky as the Gamecocks look to repeat as SEC regular-season champions. Conference play is scheduled to begin on Thu., Dec. 29, this season.
Five of the Gamecocks’ home SEC games will be against 2022 NCAA Tournament participants with Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and LSU making their way to Colonial Life Arena. Auburn, Missouri and Texas A&M will also make trips to Columbia in 2022-23.
In addition to the three teams that South Carolina will play twice, the Gamecocks will travel to four other postseason participants. Ole Miss and Tennessee both played in the NCAA Tournament with the Lady Vols advancing to the Sweet 16. Alabama and Vanderbilt reached the WNIT quarterfinals and round of 16, respectively. Mississippi State will also host the reigning national champions.
The Gamecocks have won six SEC regular-season championships in the last nine season, the most recent coming in 2021-22. South Carolina won four straight from 2013-14 through 2017-18, and, after two seasons coming in second, returned to the top step in 2019-20.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley is 167-55 in SEC play with that .752 winning percentage second only to Tennessee’s Pat Summitt (.874) in league history. Her 167 conference wins are the most among active league coaches and third all-time, trailing just Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Andy Landers (Georgia, 273) and Summitt (Tennessee, 306). Her 11.9 SEC wins average is the best in league history among coaches with more than one year in the conference.
