South Carolina women's basketball: A'ja Wilson returns home
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For the first time in six years and a couple of months, A’ja Wilson will play a game at Colonial Life Arena. The stakes are quite different – her last game was a 66-56 win over Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and this is a WNBA preseason game – but Wilson is still the center of attention.
Wilson brings her two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces back to her old stomping grounds for a preseason game against the Puerto Rican national team. It is the only preseason game for Las Vegas.
The Aces visited the White House on Thursday and were honored for winning the WNBA title. They endured flight delays (there was no pilot) and didn’t get to Columbia until the wee hours of the morning.
“We kind of wanted to get our White House visit in, but also out of the way,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “And then the idea came about like, well, let’s just play an exhibition game. And wouldn’t it be great to bring A’ja back to South Carolina?”
As the opponent, the Puerto Rican national team is an afterthought. Aces coach Becky Hammon told the team after practice that regardless of the opponent, “Our standard is up here.” And the crowd will be there to see Wilson.
“She’s got muscles in her legs and arms now, we haven’t seen that,” Dawn Staley joked.
This is the first time Wilson will play at Colonial Life Arena since the 2020 unveiling of her statue in front of the main entrance. The Aces posed for a picture in front of the statue.
“It’s tons of fun being here, I anticipated it to be very emotional for me. I never would have thought I’d be back here as a pro, let alone playing on the court. Our lovely equipment manager gave me my same locker in college so I think that’s when it really hit me,” Wilson said. “It’s truly a blessing to be back here. To have my teammates, they were screaming on the bus, looking at the statue. That right there touching my heart.”
Staley and assistant Lisa Boyer (and Champ) watched the Aces’ practice on Friday. After practice on Friday, Staley spoke to the Aces, a meeting of the two reigning women’s basketball champions.
“(Organizer) ProHoops (Sports & Events) is the visionary behind putting this game on,” Staley said. “And then the Aces agreeing to do it, the Puerto Rican team agreeing to do it, the WNBA allowing us to do it. I think they all play a role in bringing the Aces here, bringing A’ja back. I don’t think there will be another preseason game that will be as attended as this one. So I think it just makes sense for all of us to do the right thing. And for us, I’m happy that our FAMs get a chance to see A’ja and see what great basketball looks like.”
“I think they know what great basketball looks like,” Hammon interjected.
10,037 fans attended Wilson’s last game at South Carolina, and Saturday’s game is expected to bring even more than that. It’s all part of the growth of women’s basketball that Wilson and South Carolina have been a big part of.
It was during Wilson’s freshman season that South Carolina first led the nation in attendance, a crown it hasn’t given up since. The WNBA and college basketball set a number of viewership records last season, highlighted by 18.7 million people watching the Gamecocks claim their third national championship.
“Just watching the growth of the game has truly been amazing. It’s kind of like, we went from the get back in the kitchen comments to make a sandwich comments. I can’t even cook,” Wilson said. “Now it’s like, oh, my gosh, I need to catch a game. So like, it’s pretty cool to see the flip of people talking about our game, but I’m glad to be in it. I feel like everybody in this room has been screaming it. So now people are just hopping on the bandwagon, which is cool. I hope it stays.”
The WNBA still trails the college game in popularity and the pros have been trying to bridge the gap for years.
“Always around March everyone falls in love and then as soon as summer comes around, it just drops and disappears, and then you really don’t hear from us,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to invest in these women, we have to really put the money into these women to push the needle forward. And I think that’s what it’s going to take.”
Games like this could be part of the solution. Aces president Nikki Fargas was formerly the coach at LSU and has an existing relationship with Staley and South Carolina (LSU and South Carolina played the last-ever game at the Carolina Coliseum).
“I do think Nikki Fargas has been intentional and integrating the fan bases. I think there’s been a disconnect from college to WNBA. And you have to be intentional nowadays. This is the first time that the Aces organization has been in Columbia, South Carolina. Nikki’s been doing events here, as far as two or three years ago, and now this is what has come out of it,” Staley said.”I will give it to Nikki because I think Nikki really understands coaching on this level and seeing the disconnect between collegiates and our pros and we’ve got to have a connection because we’re all wanting basketball on the rise up to its full potential.”
ALSO SEE: Facebook page for South Carolina Women’s Basketball
Game Info
Who: Las Vegas Aces vs Puerto Rico
When: 1:00 pm ET, Saturday, May 11
Where: Colonial Life Arena
The game is not televised. Limited tickets are still available.
