With another huge honor coming her way, a look at South Carolina women's basketball since the unveiling of A'ja Wilson's statue

On Sunday, South Carolina women’s basketball great A’ja Wilson will have her No. 22 jersey retired. The well-deserved honor will come in a ceremony before the Gamecocks’ SEC contest against the Auburn Tigers. She will join former teammate Tiffany Mitchell, Sheila Foster, Martha Foster, and Shannon Johnson with her name in the rafters.

Wilson, who deserves just about every basketball accolade imaginable, came to South Carolina as the top recruit in the country before leaving as the first selection in the WNBA Draft. Everything that happened in the in-between was legendary.

During her South Carolina women’s basketball career, Wilson earned the title of South Carolina’s GOAT. The Greatest of All Time was the driving force behind the Gamecocks’ first National Championship during the 2016-2017 season. She followed that up by sweeping the National Player of the Year awards. Wilson made four years worth of All-American teams, won three SEC Player of the Year honors, led USC to its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th SEC regular season championships and four-straight SEC Tournament titles, and owns a long list of Gamecock records. She is South Carolina’s all-time leader in points, blocks, blocks per game, and free throws made.

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Back in 2021, the University of South Carolina unveiled a statue of Wilson outside of Colonial Life Arena. In the time between Wilson’s statue and her upcoming jersey retirement, her Gamecocks have been the most dominant program in the sport. Frankly, it’s not even that close.

Since the official statue dedication on January 15, 2021, Dawn Staley’s team has gone 146-8 overall. The Gamecocks have won two National Championships, 50% of the titles during that stretch. South Carolina also has won three SEC regular season titles and three SEC Tournament championships. USC is in the driver’s seat for another conference championship this season, as well, and is one of just a handful of legitimate NCAA Tournament championship contenders.

At home, with Wilson’s statue guarding the CLA entrance, the Gamecocks are undefeated with a 68-0 record. (Hat tip to GamecockCentral’s Chris Wellbaum for noticing the trend first.) Against SEC foes at Colonial Life Arena, South Carolina has won all 35 games by at least eight points and 34 of 35 by a double-digit margin.

The Gamecocks also have been 12-2 since the statue’s erection against UConn and Tennessee, the two dynasties they ended. Those numbers include four wins in a row over the Huskies and eight in a row over the Volunteers.

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The Wilson statue has become a women’s basketball landmark. Believed to be the first full-sized statue dedicated to a female basketball player, visiting teams on their first trip to Columbia often take pictures with Wilson’s bronze version.

There’s a reason why the statue has become such a popular attraction. It’s because it is A’ja Wilson. She changed South Carolina women’s basketball, and now, she is the best player in the world. It won’t be long before she challenges for the title of the best women’s basketball player of all time.

Weighing in at over 4000 pounds and standing more than 11 feet tall, Wilson’s statue will serve forever as a testament to her impact on the program. That statue didn’t lead to any of the aforementioned success. However, the woman who shares its likeness (along with head coach Dawn Staley) made it all possible.

That’s why No. 22 will hang in the CLA rafters after Sunday. That’s also why Staley revealed she plans for no one ever to wear that number again. As Staley put it, Wilson “legitimized” the program, and everything that has happened since then can be traced back to the Columbia native staying home and starting a dynasty.

South Carolina and Auburn will play at Noon on Sunday following the Wilson jersey retirement ceremony. SEC Network will broadcast the SEC contest, while the ESPN app streams it.

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