South Carolina women's basketball remains at No. 2 in AP poll, loses top votes to UConn

South Carolina women’s basketball is 2-0 with two blowout victories to start the 2025-2026 season. Head coach Dawn Staley led her team to lopsided wins over former assistants Winston Gandy (Grand Canyon) and Fred Chmiel (Bowling Green) last week.

The Gamecocks were No. 2 in the Associated Press’ preseason top 25. However, that ranking came out just the day after Chloe Kitts announced her season-ending knee injury, meaning that most (if not all) of the votes came in before the initial ranking debuted. Many around women’s college basketball wondered how the Kitts news (coupled with the previously-announced off-year for Ashlyn Watkins) could affect South Carolina’s place in the rankings.

On Monday, they found out. After three weeks of offseason story lines and then one week of on-court action, the week two AP poll dropped at noon. USC slotted in once again at the No. 2 overall spot. However, UConn picked up a pair of the first-place votes that belonged to the Gamecocks in October.

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You can check out the entire AP top 25 below (overall first-place votes in parentheses):

1. UConn Huskies (30)
2. South Carolina Gamecocks (2)
3. UCLA Bruins
4. Texas Longhorns
5. LSU Tigers
6. Oklahoma Sooners
7. Baylor Bears
8. Southern Cal Trojans
9. Maryland Terrapins
10. NC State Wolfpack
11. North Carolina Tar Heels
12. Tennessee Lady Volunteers
13. Ole Miss Rebels
14. Michigan Wolverines
15. Duke Blue Devils
16. Iowa State Cyclones
17. TCU Horned Frogs
18. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
19. Vanderbilt Commodores
20. Oklahoma State Cowboys
21. Iowa Hawkeyes
22. Louisville Cardinals
23. Kentucky Wildcats
24. Michigan State Spartans
25. Washington Huskies

Also receiving votes: Ohio State Buckeyes, Princeton Tigers, Richmond Spiders, West Virginia Mountaineers, Kansas State Wildcats, Minnesota Golden Gophers, South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Kansas Jayhawks, Stanford Cardinal, Columbia Lions, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Fairfield Stags

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South Carolina has not been below seventh in the AP poll at any point since the preseason poll ahead of the 2019-2020 season. The Gamecocks finished that year as the No. 1 team in the country before the Covid-19 pandemic canceled the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks’ current No. 2 spot is also first in the SEC. USC is one of eight total Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the top 25.

Carolina will play 11 games against teams from this week’s poll during the 2025-2026 regular season.

The 2025-2026 South Carolina women’s basketball schedule will include games against 11 currently ranked opponents. The Gamecocks will take on the Southern Cal Trojans (No. 8), Duke Blue Devils (No. 15), Louisville Cardinals (No. 22), Texas Longhorns (No. 4), Oklahoma Sooners (No. 6), Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 19), Tennessee Lady Volunteers (No. 12), LSU Tigers (No. 5), Ole Miss Rebels (No. 13), and Kentucky Wildcats (No. 23). The schedule also could include a game against the UCLA Bruins (No. 3) at the Players Era Championship. If not, USC will face the Texas Longhorns (No. 4) in that game.

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This week, the Gamecocks will play twice.

South Carolina will host this year’s edition of the Palmetto State’s biggest rivalry, as the Clemson Tigers will travel to Columbia for a 6:00 p.m. contest on Tuesday night. ESPN2 will broadcast the rivalry showdown, while the ESPN app streams the on-court action. Last year, the Gamecocks won, 77-45, in Clemson. It was the last of the program-record 43 straight wins for the garnet and black. USC hasn’t lost to Clemson since 2009.

Then, on Saturday, a neutral site battle with Southern Cal will tip at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) in Los Angeles. “The Real SC” game will air nationally on Fox, while the FoxSports app makes it available via streaming.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!