South Carolina women’s basketball owns a 19-1 overall record through the first 11 weeks of the 2025-2026 season. The Gamecocks lost on a last-second shot to the Texas Longhorns but got revenge for that defeat in the rematch last week. Following wins over Texas and Coppin State, the AP voters selected USC as the No. 2 team in the country.

When the first NET rankings came out at the beginning of December, South Carolina slotted in at No. 6 nationally. They were also third in the SEC. That didn’t change through several weeks. However, Dawn Staley’s team made a one-week jump to No. 2 before dropping one spot down to third nationally.

Despite beating a top-5 Texas team on Thursday, USC fell in the NET rankings from this time a week ago. Carolina is now No. 4. Adding to the mess at the top of the NET, the Longhorns actually jumped the Gamecocks to No. 3.

These NET rankings have been updated following last night’s games around the country.

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The NET, for those unfamiliar, is the most important ranking metric used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. It factors in Team Value Index (essentially a team’s on-court results, location of games, and strength of schedule) and adjusted net efficiency ratings (how well a team plays in those games, adjusted for the quality of opponent and location of games).

At the time of this writing, South Carolina holds a 4-1 record against Quad 1 opponents, having knocked off Southern Cal in a neutral-site contest (though it was in Los Angeles), losing to Texas and beating Duke in Las Vegas at the Players Era Championship, beating Louisville on the road, and returning the favor to the Longhorns at home.

The Gamecocks are 5-0 against teams from Quad 2, with wins over Clemson, Georgia, and Alabama at home and Florida and South Florida on the road. USC beat Arkansas to go to 1-0 against the Quad 3, and they are 9-0 against Quad 4 squads. Seven of those lowest quad games came in Columbia, and Carolina also beat Florida Gulf Coast and Coppin State on the road.

Factoring into the quality NET number, Coach Staley always creates one of the country’s top schedules. Because of that, South Carolina had one of the toughest strength of schedule metrics in the country, even before SEC play began. Now, the Gamecocks are one of just three teams with at least nine wins over Quad 1 and Quad 2 foes, joining UConn and UCLA.

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The upcoming schedule features matchups against two current AP-ranked teams. One game will be on the road, while the other will be at Colonial Life Arena.

On Thursday, January 22nd, South Carolina will face off with its first of two ranked teams this week. The Oklahoma Sooners will host the Gamecocks in Norman for a 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) showdown at the Lloyd Noble Center. ESPN will broadcast the big-time matchup, while the ESPN app makes it available via streaming. Oklahoma currently ranks 14th in the NET and 16th in the AP top 25.

Then, on Sunday, January 25th, the Gamecocks will be back in Columbia for a tilt with the Vanderbilt Commodores. Ranked No. 5 in the AP poll, Vandy will travel to CLA for a 3:00 p.m. showdown with a perfect record still intact. The contest will also be aired by ESPN and streamed by the ESPN app. The Commodores enter the week as the only SEC team left with an undefeated overall record and hold the No. 7 spot in the NET.