The 2019–20 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Gamecocks, led by twelfth-year head coach Dawn Staley, played their home games at the Colonial Life Arena and competed as members of the Southeastern Conference, where they won both the regular season and conference tournament championship. Although there was no NCAA Tournament due to COVID-19, The Gamecocks finished the season ranked #1 in both major polls with the best overall record, and are sometimes referred to as the season's "mythical national champions". For her outstanding efforts, Staley swept the national coach of the year awards in 2020, becoming the first person to win the Naismith Award as a player and a coach.
Previous season The Gamecocks finished the 2018–19 season 23–10, 13–3 in SEC play to finish in second place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the SEC women's tournament to Arkansas. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament where they defeated Belmont and Florida State in the first and second rounds before losing to Baylor in the Sweet Sixteen.
Offseason
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Notes Nelly Perry 0 G 5'10" RS Senior Camden, NJ Graduated Bianca Cuevas-Moore 1 G 5'6" RS Senior Bronx, NY Graduated Te'a Cooper 2 G 5'8" RS Junior Powder Springs, GA Transferred to Baylor Doniyah Cliney 4 G 6'0" Senior Newark, NJ Graduated Bianca Jackson 10 G 5'10" Sophomore Montgomery, AL Transferred to Florida State LaDazhia Williams 23 C 6'2" Sophomore Bradenton, FL Transferred to Missouri Alexis Jennings 35 F 6'2" RS Senior Laurel, MD Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Previous School Destiny Littleton 11 G 5'9" RS Sophomore San Diego, CA Transferred from Texas. Will sit out a year due to NCAA rules.
Recruits The Gamecocks signed the #1 class in the nation for 2019 according to ESPN and Prospects nation.
SEC Media Poll SEC media poll 1 South Carolina 2 Texas A&M 3 Mississippi State 4 Kentucky 5 Arkansas 6 Tennessee 7 Auburn 8 LSU 9 Missouri 10 Georgia 11 Alabama 12 Florida 13 Ole Miss 14 Vanderbilt
Roster
Schedule
!colspan=12 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=| Regular season
!colspan=9 style=| SEC Tournament
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA ended all play on March 12, 2020.
Rankings
^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll
On December 31, 2020, during the 2020-21 home opener against Florida, the Gamecocks raised a championship banner recognising the mythical national championship claim by polls, located next to the 2017 NCAA championship banner. Following the 2021-22 season with an official NCAA championship, that season's NCAA championship banner was placed next to the 2019-20 banner, and is the same size as the official banners.
References