South Carolina's 2021-22 schedule is taking shape, but there are still some holes to fill.

South Carolina will play 16 conference games, a multi-team event, and 11 non-conference games. Some of those non-conference games have been officially confirmed with dates, others don’t have dates yet, while the rest are unconfirmed.

The multi-team event is the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. South Carolina was supposed to participate in the inaugural women’s version of the event in 2020, but it was canceled due to the pandemic. Games against NC State, South Dakota, Maryland, and Connecticut have been confirmed.

Dawn Staley has said that the series with Duke - which was put on hold last season - will resume. No date for that game has been set yet.

Presumably the series with Clemson will resume as well. The Gamecocks and Tigers attempted to play last season, but conference requirements from the SEC and ACC made it impossible. Similarly, the series with Temple, which was played last season, will probably continue, although the Owls may have grown tired of lopsided games.

Staley said in April that she was attempting to arrange a home game against Stanford, as the Cardinal was trying to put together a multiple-game east coast trip. As it stands, we know even less about Stanford’s schedule (they play Portland!) than South Carolina’s, so it’s still unknown if we’ll get a Final Four rematch. South Carolina and Oregon tried to put together a home-and-home series beginning last season, but the pandemic scuttled those plans and the series is off.

There are four definite games and two almost certain games. That leaves between three and five games left to schedule.

Here’s what we do know:

Tuesday, November 9 - at NC State

This is the return game of a home-and-home series that began last season. The time and broadcast information have not been released, but given that it will likely be a top ten game on a Tuesday night at the beginning of the season, we can guess that it will tip at 7:00 pm and appear somewhere on the ESPN networks.

Friday, November 12 - vs South Dakota in The Invitational in Sioux Falls

In 2019, South Carolina hosted South Dakota in the first game of a home-and-home. They met in Sioux falls last season in a multi-team event that replaced the Battle 4 Atlantis. Staley said last year she hoped that would fulfill the home-and-home, but it appears not. Either that or the Gamecocks liked Sioux Falls. This game is part of a double-header, with Louisville and Arizona facing in the other game. Tip times have not been determined, but the games will be carried by ESPN.

South Carolina could squeeze a game in here, probably on Sunday or Monday, before leaving for the Bahamas.

Saturday, November 20-22 - Battle 4 Atlantis

South Carolina will play Buffalo in the first game, and then either Oregon or Oklahoma on Sunday. The other half of the bracket includes UConn, Syracuse, Minnesota, and South Florida, and South Carolina will play one of those teams on November 22.

South Carolina will likely take the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. South Carolina has traditionally played Due and Clemson either in the first or third week of December. The way the calendar is, one of those games could be played Sunday or Monday of this week. Both the Blue Devils and Tigers play December 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but the Gamecocks will probably look to schedule a game that night.

South Carolina has exams the week of December 6-10, so there are no games this week.

Sunday, December 12, 3:00 pm - Maryland (Women’s Jimmy V Classic)

This game has the whole nine yards: a time and network. The game is at 3:00 pm on ESPN, the second part of a double-header with Kentucky-Louisville. This game is the resumption of a home-and-home series that was interrupted last season.

South Carolina has time for two or three games between the Maryland game and a Christmas break. Duke or Clemson could fit here. Sometimes South Carolina plays another game during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, when the SEC season typically begins, but has also sometimes left that week empty in the past.

Monday, February ? - UConn

This game - along with games the next two seasons - has been confirmed. The exact date has not been set, but it is always a Monday in early February, broadcast by ESPN. That points to a pair of possible dates: February 7 and 14.

Dates have not been set for conference play, but opponents have. There has been some confusion over South Carolina’s opponents (there apparently was a mistake in the list South Carolina released in July and a new list hasn’t been released), but we should be able to piece together the schedule. Home opponents should be Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt. The road opponents should be: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, and one team from the group of Vanderbilt, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M.

The SEC Tournament is March 2-6 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

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