Women’s Hoops at Duke for 2026 SEC-ACC Challenge

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s basketball will travel to Duke as part of the 2026 SEC-ACC Challenge, ESPN announced today. The two national powers will square off on Thu., Dec. 3, with the game airing on one of the ESPN family of networks.

South Carolina is a perfect 3-0 in The Challenge, and the Gamecocks are making their third road trip in the four seasons of the event. In the 2025 event, South Carolina edged out No. 22 Louisville 79-77. The Gamecocks and Blue Devils are playing each other for the second time in the event as South Carolina posted an 81-70 win over No. 8 Duke in 2024 in Columbia. In the first season of The Challenge (2023), the Gamecocks posted a 65-58 win at No. 24 North Carolina.

In the all-time series, South Carolina is 10-2 against Duke, including a 9-1 mark in the Dawn Staley era. Five of the games were played in Durham where the Gamecocks are 3-2 against the Blue Devils. The two met most recently at last season’s Players Era Championship in Las Vegas with the Gamecocks posting an 83-66 victory on Nov. 26, 2025. After a tight first quarter, South Carolina dominated the second with stifling defense and cruised to the win behind a 58-28 edge in points in the paint. In the Gamecocks’ last trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium, their defense in the second and fourth quarters delivered a 77-61 win on Dec. 3, 2023.

The Gamecocks are coming off their sixth-straight NCAA Final Four appearance and their third-straight season playing in the national championship game. Junior All-American Joyce Edwards led South Carolina’s offense with 19.2 points per game last season, and she is the top returning rebounder at 6.8 per outing. Senior Tessa Johnson is also back after ranking fourth in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at .448 en route to her career-best 12.8 points per game. Staley also returns key reserves in Agot Makeer and Maddy McDaniel, who averaged nearly 20 minutes per game in 2025-26. Senior forwards Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins are slated to be back on the court after missing last season due to injury, and Staley added six new players, including junior transfer Jordan Lee. The Gamecocks’ five incoming freshmen comprise the No. 2 signing class in the nation, led by a pair of top-10 players in No. 3 Oliviyah Edwards and No. 6 Jerzy Robinson.

Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts (@GamecockWBB) for the most up-to-date information on South Carolina women’s basketball.