COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina announced the non-conference portion of its 2024-25 men’s basketball schedule on Thursday. The Gamecocks will open the season on Monday, Nov. 4 at Colonial Life Arena against North Florida.
The team will play nine of its 13 non-conference games at home highlighted by the in-state rivalry matchup versus Clemson on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The annual Palmetto Series matchup will be presented by the South Carolina Education Lottery, again.
Carolina has a pair of true road games, first traveling to historic Assembly Hall on Saturday, Nov. 16. It’ll be just the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs and the Gamecocks first trip to Bloomington since Dec. 22, 1973.
Head coach Lamont Paris, the 2024 SEC Coach of the Year, and his team will also play on the road at Boston College on Tuesday, Dec. 3 in the second edition of the SEC/ACC Challenge. Carolina defeated Notre Dame, 65-53, at CLA last season in its first challenge contest.
The Gamecocks will compete in another neutral site, multiple-team event at the Fort Myers Tip-Off the week of Thanksgiving. Carolina squares off with Xavier in its opening game on Monday, Nov. 24 at 8:30 p.m. (ET) in Suncoast Credit Union Arena. The Gamecocks will then face either Michigan or Virginia Tech in game two of the MTE on Wednesday, Nov. 27. FS1 will provide TV coverage for all Beach Division games at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Carolina defeated DePaul and Grand Canyon in the inaugural Arizona Tip-Off last season in Glendale at Desert Diamond Arena.
It was a historic 2023-24 season, as Paris and his staff helped orchestrate the greatest single-season turnaround in program history. South Carolina went 26-8 and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. The 26 victories tied the 2016-17 Final Four team for the most single-season wins in program history. Carolina’s 15-win improvement was tied for the second-best mark in the nation. The team’s 25 regular season wins were a new program record. The Gamecocks went 13-5 in SEC play, good for a T-2nd finish in the league. The 13 SEC wins tied the 1997 SEC title team for the most SEC wins in program history (Carolina joined the league in 1991-92).
In addition to winning SEC Coach of the Year from both the media and league’s 13 other coaches, Paris was one of four finalists for the 2024 Naismith National Coach of the Year, the first coach in program history to be tabbed a finalist for the prestigious award.
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