COLUMBIA — Dawn Staley dropped some news during a May 1 interview on 107.5-FM.
Her national champion Gamecocks have a season-opening location for the 2024-25 season, albeit against an opponent to be determined.
"We'll play in Vegas," she said. "Hopefully we'll get a big plane and take some (fans) and some donors and make it a great trip for everybody. Hopefully you'll be responsible and not gamble away all your funds ...
"But we'll go to Vegas."
USC opened the season against Notre Dame in Paris last year. Las Vegas hosted the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series on Nov. 6 last year with a mix of men's and women's games, the women's games highlighted by defending national champ and preseason No. 1 LSU vs. Colorado and also Ohio State and Southern Cal, featuring stellar freshman Juju Watkins.
LSU was upset, which handed the No. 1 ranking to the Gamecocks. It was the only week in the last three seasons where USC wasn't ranked in the top spot.
Those games were played at T-Mobile Arena, home of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces. The Aces, led by USC alum A'ja Wilson, are reigning WNBA champions and will play a preseason game on May 11 in Columbia.
The opponent for the Las Vegas game is unknown. "The opponent we were supposed to play is not going to play us anymore, for one reason or another," Staley said.
That was another topic Staley touched on, one that's been popular since the Gamecocks became one of the elite teams in women's college basketball. USC has a devilish time trying to find opponents each season because nobody wants to play them.
As in, nobody wants to get beat.
"I really don't get it. It doesn't hurt you to play us. It only helps you (in the NET rankings)," Staley said. "By us continuing to play (Connecticut), we figured some stuff out."
The Gamecocks have scheduled Connecticut every season since 2015, and the first six games of the series were all UConn wins, most by blowout, and the closest margin of victory was 11 points. But USC broke through in 2020 and has won five of the past six against the Huskies, including the 2022 national championship game.
But UConn is still on the schedule, returning to Colonial Life Arena next year for the second consecutive season. It's payback for the Gamecocks having to travel to play the Huskies two straight times, in 2021 and 2023 (the teams played twice in 2022, in an early season meeting in the Bahamas and then in Minneapolis for the national championship, but the other scheduled meeting in Columbia was scrapped so the Gamecocks could make up a canceled SEC game against Mississippi).
USC beat UConn 83-65 last season.
It's already been announced that the Gamecocks will play in next year's Ally Tipoff in Charlotte on Nov. 10, taking on North Carolina State in what's become a rematch of last year's Final Four. USC blitzed the Wolfpack 78-59 in Cleveland en route to its title-game showdown with Iowa, its third national championship and the completion of a 38-0 season.
Other known games for 2024-25 are at UCLA, which Staley also confirmed on May 1, and the annual rivalry game against Clemson, which will take place in Littlejohn Coliseum this year. Staley also said USC will again participate in the SEC/ACC Challenge, but the opponent has yet to be determined.
"More than likely, we’ll play one of the top teams in the ACC," she said.
Last year's event was at North Carolina, which USC won 65-58.
The Gamecocks have some future games on the books as well, which may or may not be scheduled next season. Bowling Green owes USC a game at Colonial Life Arena after the Gamecocks traveled there last year, as does East Carolina.
USC is expected to host Duke next season after winning in Durham, N.C., last season.
USC owes Charleston Southern a game at its gym from a past season, and it's believed that Stanford and USC still have a future home-and-home on the books. The Gamecocks are also expected to play at Memphis next season.
The SEC Tournament will also return to Greenville next season, on March 5-9. It's the last season for the tournament in Greenville under the current agreement.
