South Carolina basketball takes step forward in analytics rankings ahead of conference play

South Carolina basketball will enter SEC play this weekend with a 9-4 overall record. The Gamecocks have beaten bad opponents (9-0 against NET Quad 4 teams) and have lost to good teams (0-4 against NET Quad 2 and Quad 1 squads). The team’s most recent time out on the court was a 96-67 drubbing of the Albany Great Danes.

But what does the analytics data say about South Carolina basketball?

Throughout the season, GamecockCentral will compile the data points and rankings from three major college basketball analytics publications — Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings, Evan Miyakawa’s data from EvanMiya.com, and Bart Torvik’s T-Rank numbers — and compare them to USC’s numbers from the previous week and to the rest of the SEC, at large.

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Already, the 2025-2026 season has shifted to conference play. The Gamecocks’ schedule will feature 18 SEC opponents until the conference tournament. A solid showing in the country’s deepest league likely would grant any team an NCAA Tournament berth. However, another year like the 2024-2025 campaign, and South Carolina will be at home again in March.

The analytics picture is becoming clearer, and the gurus are good at what they do. Let’s take a look at Carolina’s metrics through the team’s first 13 games, as of contests finished by 8:00 p.m. January 1st.

South Carolina’s spot in the rankings from KenPom improved from last week. In fact, the Gamecocks moved up seven spots to No. 85 following the team’s blowout win over Albany. The offensive metrics liked the fact that Lamont Paris’ team scored 96 points and pushed USC up 21 spots to No. 88 nationally. On defense, Carolina now ranks 82nd in the country, which represents a five-spot demotion from this time a week ago.

Evan Miyakawa’s EvanMiya ratings tell a similar story. South Carolina’s overall ranking shifted ahead three positions to No. 92. The offense went up 15 places to 92nd, but the defensive metrics dropped 10 spots to 97th. Mike Sharavjamts (No. 31) and Meechie Johnson (No. 66) are the only two players on the SEC top 100.

Just like KenPom and EvanMiya, Bart Torvik’s T-Rank moved South Carolina up in the overall rankings (from 102 to 99), up in offensive metric rankings (from 130 to 105), and down in defensive metric rankings (from 84 to 93). USC still has a Wins Above Bubble (WAB) rating in negative territory. That is significant, as just two at-large teams made the NCAA Tournament last year with a negative WAB, while all but eight positive WAB teams went dancing.

As those numbers relate to the rest of the SEC, South Carolina is 16th out of 16 in overall ranking according to Evan Miyakawa and Ken Pomeroy. Bart Torvik lists the team at No. 15 in the league, ahead of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. According to all three analytics services, the Gamecocks are 15th in the conference in offensive efficiency; both KenPom and Torvik list Carolina slightly ahead of Mississippi State, while Miyakawa pushes USC in front of Ole Miss. KenPom’s defensive numbers suggest USC is 13th in the SEC, ahead of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas. The EvanMiya defensive efficiency ranking lists Missouri and Oklahoma behind Carolina, putting the Gamecocks at No. 14 in the SEC. South Carolina is 12th in the Southeastern Conference in the T-Rank’s defensive metrics, ahead of Oklahoma, Auburn, Missouri, and Mississippi State.

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The Gamecocks will play twice over the next week, as conference play starts with one home contest and a road trip.

On Saturday, January 3rd, South Carolina will host the Vanderbilt Commodores at Colonial Life Arena. Tip-off will be at 2:00 p.m. ESPNU will handle the television broadcast, while the ESPN app makes the game available via streaming. Vandy is a consensus top-10 team in the analytics rankings and is No. 11 in the AP poll.

Then, on Tuesday, January 6th, the Gamecocks will travel to Baton Rouge for a date with the LSU Tigers. That contest will tip at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern). ESPNU and the ESPN app will again make the game available for fans. LSU ranks inside the top 40 in the rankings from all three analytics gurus.

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