South Carolina Women’s Basketball’s Position in the AP Top-25 After Strong Week

In the face of back-to-back losses on Sunday, South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley remained composed, opting not to panic. Instead, she challenged her team to “play a resemblance of who we are” as a collective unit. The Gamecocks responded to her call with impressive force, bouncing back with two dominant wins in SEC play, defeating Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

After those victories, South Carolina now stands at 25-3 overall and 13-1 in conference play. The Texas Longhorns will face Georgia on Monday night, which will determine whether USC and Texas remain tied at the top of the SEC standings.

Following the recent setbacks, South Carolina dropped from the No. 2 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 to No. 6. While losses to UConn and Texas didn’t significantly hurt their resume, the defeats allowed several teams to close the gap at the top of the NET rankings. When the AP released the updated rankings on Monday, USC held steady at No. 6, with Texas overtaking the top spot after Notre Dame’s loss last week.

Here is the full AP Top 25, including first-place votes in parentheses:

1. Texas Longhorns (19)
2. UCLA Bruins (11)
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. Southern Cal Trojans (1)
5. UConn Huskies
6. South Carolina Gamecocks
7. LSU Tigers
8. North Carolina Tar Heels
9. NC State Wolfpack
10. TCU Horned Frogs
11. Tennessee Lady Volunteers
12. Ohio State Buckeyes
13. Oklahoma Sooners
14. Kansas State Wildcats
15. Kentucky Wildcats
16. Duke Blue Devils
17. Baylor Bears
18. West Virginia Mountaineers
19. Maryland Terrapins
20. Alabama Crimson Tide
21. Oklahoma State Cowboys
22. Creighton Blue Jays
23. Michigan State Spartans
24. Florida State Seminoles
25. Louisville Cardinals

Looking ahead, South Carolina has just two more SEC games remaining in the regular season, one at home and one on the road.

On Thursday, the Gamecocks will hit the road for a matchup against Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Mississippi. Ole Miss, who has spent much of the season on the fringes of the top 25, enters the game with a solid 18-8 record and 9-5 in conference play. The game will tip off at 9:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN, with streaming available via the ESPN app.

To close out the regular season, South Carolina will take on the Kentucky Wildcats in a crucial contest. This will also be Senior Day for USC. Kentucky, led by first-year coach Kenny Brooks, is fighting to secure a top-4 finish in the SEC, which would guarantee them a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. Currently ranked No. 15 in the AP, Kentucky has reached as high as No. 8 in the national rankings this season. This important game will air on ESPN at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, with streaming available on the ESPN app.