Aug. 20, 2015
COLUMBIA, S .C. — The Southeastern Conference announced its 2016 women’s basketball schedule Thursday night during “SEC Now” on the SEC Network. Each of South Carolina’s 16 league games will be broadcast with six to be aired on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. Four others will air on SEC Network with the remaining outings available on SEC Network+.
All three of South Carolina’s home-and-home opponents this season — Kentucky, Ole Miss and Texas A&M — played in the 2015 postseason. Colonial Life Arena will host eight SEC games with four NCAA Tournament teams and two WNIT participants among them.
Following a challenging non-conference slate, head coach Dawn Staley’s team opens SEC play at home on ESPNU against Arkansas (Sun., Jan. 3), which advanced to the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament. A trip to Vanderbilt (Thu., Jan. 7) follows with the Gamecocks returning to Colonial Life Arena for a SEC Network contest against Missouri (Sun., Jan. 10). The first of two games against NCAA second-round participant Kentucky comes on the road (Thu., Jan. 14) followed by an ESPN2 broadcast of the first of two showdowns with Texas A&M (Sun., Jan. 17), another NCAA Tournament contender.
The Gamecocks face back-to-back road games for the first time in league play, heading to Auburn (Thu., Jan. 21) then Mississippi State (Sun., Jan. 24) for another ESPN2 showdown against an NCAA Tournament second-round finisher. Ole Miss, which advanced to the WNIT round of 16, comes to Colonial Life Arena (Thu., Jan. 28), and a return trip to Texas A&M (Sun., Jan. 31) closes out the month on ESPNU.
A pair of SEC home games sandwich South Carolina’s rematch with Connecticut to kick off the month of February. The Gamecocks will face Kentucky (Thu., Feb. 4) on SEC Network then host Florida (Thu., Feb. 11). The first of two Monday SEC games for South Carolina comes at NCAA Elite Eight finisher Tennessee (Mon., Feb. 15) with ESPN2 airing the action between the 2015 regular-season co-champions. Colonial Life Arena will welcome the Georgia Bulldogs (Thu., Feb. 18) before the Gamecocks head back on a two-game road swing at Alabama (Mon., Feb. 22) on SEC Network and at Ole Miss (Thu., Feb. 25). South Carolina finishes the regular season against NCAA participant LSU (Sun., Feb. 28) on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
ESPN2 and ESPNU will produce a combined 13 conference contests and the SEC Network will televise more than 40 conference games. In addition, new for 2015-16, SEC Network will present two nights of whip-around coverage, providing a live look-in to every women’s basketball game played on Thu., Jan. 7, and Thu., Feb. 25. Each contest will also be available in its entirety as on SEC Network+ via WatchESPN. The SEC Network will televise the first three days of the SEC Tournament while the semifinals will be aired on ESPNU and the championship game on ESPN.
Times for ESPN2/U games as well as a package of televised non-conference games will be announced at a later date.
All of the games in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) and the SEC Network, including Whip Around games in their entirety, will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
South Carolina’s 2016 SEC schedule is:
Sun., Jan. 3, Arkansas, TBA, ESPNU
Thu., Jan. 7, at Vanderbilt, TBA, SEC Network Whip Around
Sun., Jan. 10, Missouri, Noon, SEC Network
Thu., Jan. 14, at Kentucky, 7 p.m., SEC Network
Sun., Jan. 17, Texas A&M, TBA, ESPN2
Thu., Jan. 21, at Auburn, 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Sun., Jan. 24, at Mississippi State, TBA, ESPN2
Thu., Jan. 28, Ole Miss, 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Sun., Jan. 31, at Texas A&M, TBA, ESPNU
Thu., Feb. 4, Kentucky, 7 p.m., SEC Network
Thu., Feb. 11, Florida, 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Mon., Feb. 15, at Tennessee, TBA, ESPN2
Thu., Feb. 18, Georgia, 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Mon., Feb. 22, at Alabama, 7 p.m., SEC Network
Thu., Feb. 25, at Ole Miss, TBA, SEC Network Whip Around
Sun., Feb. 28, LSU, TBA, ESPN2/U
Season ticket deposits for 2015-16 are being accepted now via the website, www.GamecocksOnline.com/tickets, or by calling the South Carolina Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-4SC-FANS. This season, fans can choose from three ticket options — Reserved ($60; Sections 104-106 and 113-115), Corner Reserved ($40; Sections 102-103, 107-108 and 116-117) or General Admission ($30).
