Despite playing well during the first three non-conference games, there was not much the Clemson Tigers could do against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Thursday night, even though this one was at home. Clemson lost to the other big program in-state to the tune of 65-44. While the Tigers held their own in the first and fourth quarters, they got crushed in the second and third quarters, 32-14.
After the game, South Carolina forward Chloe Kitts was asked if there is a rivalry between the Gamecocks and the Tigers on the basketball court. Kitts replied, No, sir." While she did say that Clemson and South Carolina have a fierce rivalry in other sports, women's basketball is not one of them. Her head coach, Dawn Staley, immediately refuted Kitts' comments by saying, "It's a rivalry."
Well, this was Clemson's 16th straight loss to South Carolina on the hardwood. Keep in mind that South Carolina has become a national power under Staley's watch, while Clemson only just became a tournament team under Shawn Poppie's guidance. Everyone who follows along with the sport knows Poppie has the Clemson program heading in the right direction. This is a hammer versus nail rivalry...
South Carolina's Chloe Kitts was asked if this is a rivalry between the Gamecocks and Tigers:
— Grayson Mann (@gray_mann21) November 13, 2026
"No, sir."
She adds that it's a rivalry in football and other sports, but not WBB specifically.
Dawn Staley disagrees.
"It's a rivalry," says Staley as questions come from…
Shawn Poppie has to be the one to stop all the losing to South Carolina
Poppie talked about this after the game. He felt that Clemson had a strong game plan and executed well on the glass, took good care of the basketball, and defended South Carolina strongly for most of the night. However, Clemson shot a terrible 22 percent from the field and 13 percent from distance. To make matters worse, South Carolina was still able to make 27 percent of its tries from 3-point land.
As far as this annual basketball series being a rivalry, it really has not been one for an exceedingly long time. Poppie was hired to help make a difference for Clemson and finally get one on the positive side of the ledger for them. Again, Clemson is improving, as shown by their three wins to start non-conference play over Radford, East Tennessee State, and UNC Greensboro. Thursday was a big ask.
What hurts this being a rivalry series on the hardwood is that it is too grossly one-sided in South Carolina's favor, as well as neither school competing in the same conference. If they were regular foes in the ACC or SEC, that could help microwave this into what we have seen on the college football gridiron for decades. For now, we must look at this latest loss to South Carolina as an inflection point.
For Clemson to ever beat South Carolina again on the basketball court, the Tigers not only have to play great defense, hold their own on the glass, and not fall too far out of it in terms of turnover differential, but they have to find a way to shoot exponentially better from the floor. Ultimately, Clemson could not counter South Carolina's length, and that is what cost them the upset bid here.
Clemson will need to grow from this if the Tigers want to make some noise in the ACC this season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google