The 2020–21 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November 2020 and ended with the championship game of the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 4, 2021. Practices offi ...

. The Gamecocks, led by thirteenth-year head coach

Dawn Staley Dawn Michelle Staley (born May 4, 1970) is an American basketball Hall of Fame player and coach, who is currently the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Staley won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player and later was head co ...

, played their home games at

Colonial Life Arena The Colonial Life Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Columbia, South Carolina, primarily home to the University of South Carolina men's and women's basketball teams. Opened as a replacement for the Carolina Coliseum with the name Carolina Center ...

and competed as members of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). They finished the season 26–5 (14–2 SEC), won the

SEC tournament The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when t ...

, and won a bid to the NCAA tournament where they advanced to the Final Four and lost to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Previous season

The

Gamecocks A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

finished the season with a 32–1 overall record and a 16–0 record in conference play. The Gamecocks won the

. The Gamecocks therefore received an automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, however the tournament was not held due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and were ''de facto'' named mythical national championship by finishing first in the major wire service polls, the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

and

Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially ...

. On December 31, 2020, during the Florida game, the program raised a banner to recognise the claim.

Offseason

Departures

2020 recruiting class

Preseason

SEC media poll

The SEC media poll was released on November 17, 2020 with the Gamecocks selected to finish in first place in the SEC.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Gamecocks had two players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams. First team

Aliyah Boston Aliyah Boston (born December 11, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). She plays the power forward and center positions. Born in Saint Thomas, United States Virgin ...

Second team Zia Cooke

Roster

Schedule

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, SEC Tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball seasons

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

South Carolina Gamecocks w South Carolina Gamecocks w

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Final Four seasons