South Carolina’s first regular season game of 2020-21 was scheduled to be Northwestern in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 28. Jon Rothstein reported on Monday that Northwestern withdrew from the two-day event, leaving only Gamecocks, Tulsa and TCU among the participants.
It remains to be announced how event coordinators will make up for Northwestern’s pullback less than two weeks before that weekend of games. South Carolina will host the Coker in the state for an exhibition game on November 25 before leaving for Kansas City.
South Carolina non-conference calendar
Wednesday, November 25 – Coker (exhibition)
Saturday, November 28 – TBA (Kansas City)
Sun, November 29 – TCU / Tulsa (Kansas City)
Saturday, December 5 – Houston No. 17
Thursday, December 10 – Wofford
Monday, December 14 – in George Washington
Saturday, December 19 – Clemson
Wednesday, December 23 – State of SC
Saturday, January 2 – Florida A&M
* homemade games in bold
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Last week, obviously before Monday’s news about Northwestern, Gamecocks’s head coach Frank Martin offered his thoughts on the list of eight games outside the conference.
“Our schedule is very difficult,” said Martin. “We went back to important consecutive games in Kansas City, came home for three or four days and came back and went to Houston. They have the best team they’ve had since the early 1980s. So we come home and play Wofford, go to George Washington, then Clemson at home. I don’t know when I’ll be able to take a deep breath, but that’s okay. I prefer to play these difficult games than games that have no pop effect. “
“The guys in Kansas City (for the Hall of Fame Classic) immediately contacted us, changed the date and it kind of fit our schedule. Their tests will be quite consistent and the four teams agreed that we would all be part of the same thing. It was a very smooth transition from that point of view.
“Since these dates worked, for us, it was just a matter of me wanting to play at home, on the road and on a neutral court, which we do every year in our non-conference. I never bought bubble things. I didn’t know how they would make it work, because each league has different test mandates. I don’t think (compiling a schedule) was as crazy for us as some people made it seem. “