COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina women’s basketball team has learned its SEC schedule as the league office unveiled the 2022-2023 conference slate.
Five SEC teams who competed in the NCAA Tournament will come to Columbia to face the defending SEC regular season champions.
The SEC schedule will feature home games to open and close the conference schedule but back-to-back games at the Colonial Life Arena will occur just once.
South Carolina’s road schedule features trips to four 2022 NCAA Tournament participants – Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Tennessee – and a pair of WNIT teams from last season in Alabama and Ole Miss.
The Gamecocks have won six SEC regular-season championships in the last nine seasons, 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.
The Gamecocks’ SEC title defense tips off on Dec. 29 against Texas A&M at Colonial Life Arena followed a Jan. 2 trip to Athens, Ga., for the first of two matchups with the Lady Bulldogs. Another home-and-home opponent comes to Columbia next with Auburn set for tipoff at Colonial Life Arena on Jan. 5.
The first set of back-to-back road games opens at Mississippi State on Jan. 8 and finishes at long-time rival Kentucky on Jan. 12. The next week features a Jan. 15 visit from Missouri followed by a trip to Vanderbilt on Jan. 19. January ends on a split week with NCAA Tournament participant Arkansas visiting Columbia on Jan. 22 ahead of a trip to WNIT quarterfinalist Alabama on Jan. 29.
South Carolina hosts the return game from Kentucky on Feb. 2 before stepping out of conference play to travel to UConn on Feb. 5. The Gamecocks stay on the road for their return trip to Auburn on Feb. 9.
Next, Colonial Life Arena will finally host back-to-back SEC games, welcoming LSU on Feb. 12 and Florida on Feb. 16. The Gamecocks are back on the road, traveling to Ole Miss on Feb. 19 and then Tennessee on Feb. 23. The regular season closes in Columbia against border rival Georgia on Feb. 26.