South Carolina basketball takes a dip in analytics ranking updates following SC State win

South Carolina basketball has started the 2025-2026 season with an 8-4 record. The Gamecocks’ four defeats have come in their only four games against power conference opponents. Conversely, USC is 8-0 against lower-level foes. Over the last week, Lamont Paris’ team played just once. Completing a run of three in-state games in a row, Carolina whipped the SC State Bulldogs, 95-70.

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.

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Already, the 2025-2026 season is over one-third of the way finished. The schedule includes one more out-of-conference opponent before the calendar flips to January and SEC play.

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 12 games, as of contests played on December 25th.

South Carolina’s spot in the rankings from KenPom dropped despite the lopsided win over SC State. Shifting down six spots from this time a week ago, the Gamecocks are 92nd nationally. With 95 points scored, USC’s offensive efficiency metrics moved up three spots to No. 109 in the country. However, the defense didn’t have its best day, and the garnet and black now rank 77th in college basketball in KenPom’s defensive rating.

Evan Miyakawa’s EvanMiya ratings also saw a South Carolina downward shift. Now ranked 95th, Lamont Paris’ squad dropped three spots from this time a week ago. Miyakawa, like KenPom, liked Carolina’s offense last time out, moving them up five spots to No. 107. Defensively, though, the Gamecocks dropped 14 slots to No. 87 in the nation. Mike Sharavjamts (No. 33) and Meechie Johnson (No. 82) are the only two players on the SEC top 100.

A similar story played out in Bart Torvik’s T-Rank. USC dropped eight spots in a week to No. 102 overall. That manifested in a slight drop on offense from 129 to 130 and a sizable change on defense from 71 to 84. 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 last in the conference in offensive efficiency. KenPom’s defensive numbers suggest USC is 11th in the SEC, ahead of Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Auburn, and Mississippi State. The EvanMiya defensive efficiency ranking lists Missouri, Auburn, and Oklahoma behind Carolina, putting them at No. 13 in the SEC. South Carolina is 11th in the Southeastern Conference in the T-Rank’s defensive metrics, ahead of Oklahoma, Auburn, Missouri, Mississippi State, and LSU.

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The Gamecocks will play just once over the next week. The non-conference finale will take place on Tuesday.

On December 30th, Colonial Life Arena will play host to a matchup between South Carolina and the Albany Great Danes. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 p.m. SEC Network will handle the television broadcast, while the ESPN app makes it available via streaming.

USC will then begin conference play on January 3rd against Vanderbilt.

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