Gamecocks Ranked in Both Final Top-25 Polls

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina finished the season No. 24 in the final AP Poll and No. 23 in the final USA TODAY Coaches Poll. It marks the first time the Gamecocks have been ranked in the final AP Top-25 Poll since March 15, 2004 when the team was ranked No. 23. It also marks the first time the Gamecocks have been ranked in the final Coaches Top-25 Poll since ending the season No. 6 on April 4, 2017 after the team’s historic run to the Final Four.

Carolina went 26-8 this season and 13-5 in the SEC en route to a T-2^nd finish. Second-year head coach Lamont Paris and his staff helped engineer the greatest single season turnaround in program history, improving the team’s win total by 15 games from his first season in 2022-23.

Paris, the 2024 SEC Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year, helped lead the team back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017, marking the 10^th all-time March Madness appearance for the program.

The team’s 25 regular season wins were a new program record. The 26 overall wins tied the 2016-17 Final Four squad for the most single-season wins in program history. The Gamecocks 13 SEC wins were the second most in program history. Seven of Carolina’s league wins came on the road tying the 1996-97 SEC Champion squad for the most SEC road wins. The team also won a game in the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2018 with an 80-66 victory over Arkansas in round two.

The Gamecocks had a 12-5 record away from home, including an 11-3 mark in the regular season which was tied for the second-best record in the nation amongst the Power Six with Purdue and Houston. Carolina was one of five teams in the nation with a top-five, true road win and was one of 18 teams in the country with multiple top-10 wins during the season.

The team won seven-straight SEC games in a stretch from Jan. 20 to Feb. 10, the team’s longest win streak in SEC play since starting the conference slate 11-0 during the 1996-97 season. The win streak was highlighted by a pair of top-10 victories, a 79-62 win over No. 6/6 Kentucky at home on Jan. 23 and a 63-59 win at No. 5/5 Tennessee in Knoxville on Jan. 30. Per Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time the Gamecocks had defeated a pair of top-10 teams in a three-game stretch since 1968. Carolina’s win over the Vols was the team’s first AP Top-Five road victory since defeating No. 3 Kentucky, 72-66, on March 2, 1997.

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