South Carolina women’s basketball to begin new season with historic game in Paris

South Carolina women’s basketball is going abroad.

USC and Notre Dame will make history on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 by playing the NCAA’s first regular-season basketball game in Paris, France, the schools announced Wednesday. The game will mark the season opener for both programs as well as the first of the 2023-24 NCAA basketball season.

Full details for the South Carolina-Notre Dame game in Paris, including the venue, the television partner and ticket information, will be confirmed and released later this spring, according to a news release.

“We did not hesitate to accept the invitation” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said through a statement. “Playing Notre Dame in Paris is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our student-athletes, and I’m thankful for the support of our administration and our donors.”

The historic overseas game will pit two national championship-winning programs and early preseason top 10 teams against each other.

South Carolina is coming off a 36-1 season and third consecutive Final Four appearance. Despite losing five players to the WNBA Draft, including No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston, the Gamecocks return a deep roster including forward Kamilla Cardoso, the reigning SEC Sixth Woman of the Year, and guard Raven Johnson, an SEC All-Freshman pick.

Notre Dame went 27-6 and advanced to the Sweet 16 under Niele Ivey, the 2023 ACC Coach of the Year, and was a game away from playing USC in the Elite Eight. Olivia Miles, the Fighting Irish’s junior All-American guard, is among the sport’s most talented and popular players.

“It’s always been my mission to break barriers and provide opportunities for my players to have life-changing experiences,” Ivey said in a release. “Women’s basketball is on the rise, and having this exposure will help to grow the game on an international level.”

The announcement comes on the heels of a wildly popular women’s college basketball season that ended with LSU beating Iowa in the April 2 national championship game. Final Four matchups between South Carolina and Iowa and LSU and Virginia Tech averaged a record 4.5 million viewers, according to ESPN.

Complete Sports Management, a sports marketing agency that also founded college football’s Bahamas Bowl, took the lead on creating the “unprecedented matchup,” according to Wednesday’s press release.

“We are honored to partner with two of the most respected and dominant teams in women’s college basketball while showcasing one of the most iconic cities in the world,” Complete Sports Management president Lea Miller-Tooley said in the release. “This historic game will set a new standard.”

South Carolina’s full game schedule isn’t typically released until around September. USC has played a number of out-of-country holiday tournaments in its program history, including the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas and the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

In the 21st century, the Gamecocks have also played out-of-country games in Cancun, Mexico, for the Torneo de Basquetbol in 2001 and the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic in 2008, according to the program’s media guide, while appearing in two Bahamas games and three U.S. Virgin Island games (all holiday games).

Tipping off a season at a road/neutral site also isn’t a novel concept for USC. The Gamecocks opened the 2021-22 season at N.C. State, the 2018-19 season at Alabama State and the 2016-17 season at Ohio State. They also opened on the road three other times earlier in Staley’s tenure.