South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch vs. Grand Canyon

South Carolina opens the 2025-26 season on Monday night against Grand Canyon. Here are five things to watch for.

1. Full Circle-ish

The last two years, South Carolina has opened the season in Paris and Las Vegas against power conference opponents, so a game at home against Grand Canyon is pretty low-key. But there is a bigger picture than just one game.

The schedule is lighter on big-name opponents than in years past because Dawn Staley knew the team needed some time to gel. South Carolina was already looking at replacing three starters before Chloe Kitts was lost for the season with a torn ACL. 

Now, South Carolina has just one returning starter after a summer where it couldn’t work on team concepts because the whole team was never in town. The light start to the season gives the team a chance to figure things out.

“We (coaches) have to recognize that we have to slow down. We have to give them one way of guarding, like a ball screen action, instead of trying to put in everything and being sophisticated,” Staley said. “They are best when the game plan is precise and clean.”

There’s some neat symmetry in the fact that South Carolina begins the season against Grand Canyon, a university from Phoenix, which is where the Gamecocks want to end the season in the Final Four (Arizona State, not Grand Canyon, is officially the host school for the Final Four).

It’s also a reunion with Winston Gandy, the former Gamecock assistant who is now the Antelopes’ head coach. Gandy was responsible for the scout of Iowa in 2024, when the Gamecocks dismantled the Hawkeyes in the national championship game.

Gandy is the first of two former assistants returning to Columbia this week. Fred Chmiel brings Bowling Green to town on Friday. Playing against two former assistants reflects Staley and South Carolina’s influence in the basketball world.

2. This one counts

South Carolina played both of its exhibition games without its full playbook. Because of the international commitments from players, particularly freshmen Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell, the whole team wasn’t together over the summer. 

That delayed the install to begin with, and then losing Chloe Kitts to a torn ACL caused more delays. Staley said the Gamecocks still don’t have their full offense and defense available.

“We don’t,” she said. “It’s hard when we lose someone like Chloe, who really understands what we want. She can probably play with any of our post players and talk them through some things.”

In addition to the limited playbook, we didn’t see South Carolina’s real rotations in the exhibitions. Staley wanted to see how certain players and sets of players performed in game situations. Then foul trouble against North Carolina further disrupted things.

South Carolina’s four newcomers will experience Colonial Life Arena full of fans for the first time. 

“There’s nothing that I can tell them,” Staley said. “It’s still going to set fire to their nervous systems. It is, but in a good way.”

“I’m really excited for the atmosphere,” Agot Makeer said. “But I’m also really excited just to get started because it’s been a long preseason and I’m excited to play this first game.”

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3. Threes

In the two exhibitions, South Carolina shot just 22.2% from three, going 4-18 from behind the arc in each game.

There were extenuating circumstances both times. South Carolina only ran a couple of sets against Anderson, and the longer NBA three-point line on the court in Atlanta had players shooting longer threes than normal. But the bottom line is that 22% is not good enough. 

If there is a silver lining, it’s that Tessa Johnson seemed to find her shot against North Carolina, going 3-7 from three. Johnson figures to be South Carolina’s main three-point threat this season. Getting her going is a step in the right direction, especially since Johnson and Ta’Niya Latson were getting more comfortable playing together.

Hopefully, the Gamecocks can give Johnson some help starting on Monday night.

4. FAM info

As the first official game of the season, there is a lot of housekeeping to keep track of. 

There are several rule changes for this season, including uniform guidelines, a timeout clock, and some changes to how travels are called. The biggest change is the addition of coaches’ challenges.

Read more about the changes HERE.

Fans will want to arrive early for a couple of reasons. 

The first 3,000 FAMs will also receive Gamecock fans. Get it?

The Gamecocks will receive their rings for winning the SEC Championship and making the Final Four, and reveal their Final Four banner. Winston Gandy and Chloe Rice, former Gamecock coaches now at Grand Canyon, will receive their rings as well (If they don’t, “We’re gonna keep the ring,” Staley joked.)

That ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6:40 pm.

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5. Scouting the Lopes

It’s a short scouting report. Grand Canyon has a first-time head coach and 15 new players (11 transfers and four freshmen). South Carolina knows some of Winston Gandy’s tendencies from his two years as an assistant, but he’s never had his own team before, and there isn’t even a public exhibition to study.

Staley conceded that she has no idea what to expect.

“I know he’ll play some type of gap defense. Offensively, I don’t know,” she said. “He’s got a lot of three-point shooters on his team, so I’m sure they’re going to look to get a lot of three balls up.”

Grand Canyon has 11 transfers on the roster, nine of whom are going into their first season in Phoenix.

Sophomore guard Chloe Mann transferred from Cincinnati, where she averaged 8.5 points last season. She was named the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year.

Julianna LaMendola transferred in from Indiana, where she averaged 3.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in 10.1 minutes last season. She didn’t play in Indiana’s game against South Carolina last season, but scored two points in three minutes as a freshman in 2024.

The Ws

Who: #2 South Carolina (0-0) vs Grand Canyon (0-0)
When: 7:00 ET, Monday, November 3
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
Watch: SEC Network+

🏀 Attention: GamecockCentral is at the game to provide updates. Follow along on the NEW Women’s Basketball Forum (beginning approximately 30 minutes before tip-off). Don’t miss any of the action!