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How to watch No. 1 South Carolina WBB’s season opener vs. Michigan in Vegas

chapel fowler
·4 min read

South Carolina women’s basketball season is here.

Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are the reigning national champions and open their 2024-25 season against Michigan on Monday night in Las Vegas. It’ll be the first step in their title defense after USC went a perfect 38-0 last season and won its third national title in eight years.

Here’s how to watch preseason No. 1 USC, and what to know.

South Carolina WBB vs. Michigan game info

  • Who: No. 1 South Carolina (0-0) vs. Michigan (0-0)

  • When: 7:30 p.m. ET Monday

  • Where: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

  • TV: TNT

  • Broadcast crew: Spero Dedes, Grant Hill, Candace Parker, Taylor Rooks

  • Stream: Via tntdrama.com (requires cable log-in)

  • Next up: South Carolina plays No. 9 NC State in the Ally Tipoff event in Charlotte on Friday before its home opener vs. Coppin State on Nov. 14.

University of South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley puts University of South Carolina forward Sania Feagin (20) in the game during the first half of action against Clayton State in the Colonial Life Arena on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.
University of South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley puts University of South Carolina forward Sania Feagin (20) in the game during the first half of action against Clayton State in the Colonial Life Arena on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.

Previewing South Carolina

The Gamecocks return 10 of 11 scholarship players from a dominant team that swept the SEC regular season and tournament titles and completed just the 10th perfect season in Division I women’s basketball history.

Not bad for a brand-new starting lineup, right?

Starting center Kamilla Cardoso’s departure for the WNBA is significant, and there’s no way to totally replace the 6-foot-7 Cardoso, who was an absolute force as a senior.

But the Gamecocks have a roster full of top talent — especially at guard — that should have Staley’s team operating like one of the best in the country (again).

Keep an eye on sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley — who averaged 11.7 ppg off the bench and has drawn the praise of NBA legends — and veteran players Te-Hina Paopao (11.0 ppg, 46.8% 3PT) and Raven Johnson (8.1 ppg, 4.8 apg).

South Carolina also welcomes freshman forward Joyce Edwards, an in-state, five-star recruit who was the national Gatorade girls’ basketball player of the year as a senior and averaged 19.5 points with two double-doubles in USC’s two exhibition games.

Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico reacts during a NCAA Big Ten Conference women’s basketball game against Iowa, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico reacts during a NCAA Big Ten Conference women’s basketball game against Iowa, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

Previewing Michigan

Michigan has made four straight NCAA Tournaments under coach Kim Barnes Arico and has won 20 or more games in each of the past three seasons.

In 2023-24, the Wolverines went 20-14 and 6-6 in the Big Ten (tied for sixth). Michigan was a No. 9 seed and lost its opening NCAA game to No. 8 Kansas.

A number of players, including leading scorer Laila Phelia, left the Wolverines via the transfer portal this offseason. Only four players from last year’s team are still on Michigan’s current roster. Barnes Arico has described the Wolverines as “very inexperienced,” and they received zero poll points in the preseason AP Top 25.

Michigan hopes to offset that attrition with the best modern recruiting class in program history. The Wolverines finished with the No. 8 class nationally in ESPN’s rankings, led by five-star guard and No. 4 national recruit Syla Swords.

Swords competed for Canada during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and became the youngest basketball player to do so for the country at 18 years old.

University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley
University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley

Dawn Staley’s career

Staley, 54, is entering her 17th season as head coach of South Carolina. Already a Naismith Hall of Famer as a player for her time at Virginia and in the WNBA, she’s establishing quite the résumé to make it in as a coach, too.

Staley is one of only five coaches to win at least three women’s basketball national championships (2017, 2022, 2024) and is the only Black coach (man or woman) to win three basketball national championships.

Her Gamecocks have qualified for six of the last nine NCAA Final Fours and have won eight SEC regular season and tournament championships apiece, while leading the country in total attendance for 10 seasons in a row dating back to 2015.

Staley is 440-106 (.806) all-time at South Carolina and is set to make $3.2 million this year, one of the highest salaries in the country. (Conversations about a new deal began after she won her third national title in April and remain ongoing.)

T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada

Another big season opener

After opening the season against Notre Dame in Paris last year, South Carolina is back under the lights Monday night as part of a doubleheader event.

The Gamecocks and Wolverines are playing in the first leg of the 2024 Hall of Fame Series (which is run by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame) and will be followed by a college men’s matchup between No. 19 Texas and Ohio State at 10 p.m. ET

TNT is advertising the event as a “marquee doubleheader” and will offer pregame and postgame studio coverage, along with a big-name broadcasting booth for both games that includes former basketball stars Grant Hill and Candace Parker.

The games will be played at T-Mobile Arena, located right off the Las Vegas strip. The arena (capacity 20,000) is home to the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and will also occasionally host the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.