South Carolina women's basketball hasn't lost to Clemson since 2009; how the world has changed since then
Last night, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley led her team to a new program record by beating Clemson. The Gamecocks’ 43rd win in a row is the team’s longest streak and is just three shy of tying the SEC’s all-time mark of 46 (Tennessee). The victory also was USC’s 33rd-straight on the road, the third-best in women’s college basketball history. Carolina now has won 76 regular season games without a loss, a streak dating back to 2021.
However, another streak continued Wednesday night.
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In knocking off the rival Tigers, South Carolina continued its winning streak in the series to 14 games. The last time that the team from the Upstate won came in November of 2009.
The world looks pretty different these days.
Back in 2009, the University of South Carolina still had just one team National Championship (women’s track and field, 2002). Since then, the Gamecocks have added five more. Ray Tanner’s Gamecock baseball program won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011. Coach Staley’s South Carolina women’s basketball team has won three (2016-2017, 2021-2022, and 2023-2024).
Coach Staley was just starting her second year in Columbia in ’09 (Clemson has parted ways with four head coaches since then) and was in her last season that ended without earning a postseason berth. Future Gamecock GOATs A’ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston were in 8th grade and 3rd grade, respectively.
Steve Spurrier was still the head coach of the South Carolina football team. The Head Ball Coach hadn’t yet won more than eight games in a season. Shane Beamer was a young assistant coach on Spurrier’s staff.
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Darrin Horn was in his second year as the head coach of Gamecock men’s basketball. The program was still eight years away from going to a Final Four under Frank Martin. Carolina also was nearly 15 years away from Lamont Paris tying the South Carolina single-season wins record.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Duke WBB game]
The world away from USC was much different, too.
Back in 2009:
- The iPhone 3 was the most recent Apple smartphone released. The iPad still didn’t exist.
- There was a global pandemic. It wasn’t Covid-19, however; instead, it was H1N1—the Swine Flu.
- Quarterback Tom Brady still had just three of his eventual seven Super Bowl rings.
- President-elect Donald Trump still was the star of The Apprentice television show and hadn’t entered politics yet. Current president Joe Biden was the new Vice President of the United States under then-President Barack Obama.
- Travel apps like Air BnB and Uber were in their first twelve months of operation.
- Social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok had not released.
- Median housing prices in America were around $185,000; now, that number is $385,000.
- Only Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk had been released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Extremely common modern technologies, such as Ring Doorbell cameras, Alexa or Google Assistants, and smartwatches were not yet available.
In 2024, Coach Staley’s South Carolina women’s basketball program is the best in the sport. Following their undefeated National Championship run last year, the Gamecocks are off to another strong start. The Clemson win pushed USC’s record to 5-0 ahead of one of the biggest games on the schedule.
On Sunday, South Carolina will be in Los Angeles for a road contest against the UCLA Bruins. The No. 1-ranked Gamecocks and No. 5-ranked Bruins will tip at 4:00 p.m. on FS1 and the Fox Sports app.
