Rosters in college sports change every year. Especially with the transfer portal now, it’s commonplace in college basketball to have several new players per team every season.
South Carolina women’s basketball will have a distinct new look next season
South Carolina is ditching Under Armour for a deal with Nike, a brand that once gave Dawn Staley a signature shoe.
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Mitchell Northam is a Senior Writer for SB Nation, covering women’s college sports at Breakaway.
So, when the 2026-27 women’s college basketball season tips off, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks — the three-time national champs — are going to look different.
Yes, there will be new players. But this isn’t about the names on the back of the jerseys; it’s about what logo will be on the front of them.
According to multiple reports, first by the Post and Courier, South Carolina is ditching Under Armour and embarking on a new apparel deal with Nike to outfit all of its athletic teams. The Gamecocks’ current contract with UA expires on June 30, 2026. South Carolina’s Board of Trustees is expected to meet Friday morning to approve the new deal with Nike.
South Carolina first linked up with UA in 2007 for a football-only deal, then expanded that to all sports in 2011. South Carolina is the last SEC school to be outfitted by Under Armour following the brand’s breakup with Auburn. It still outfits some high-profile college programs such as Notre Dame and Maryland, and will begin a deal with Georgia Tech in 2026.
For women’s basketball specifically, the deal between Nike and the Gamecocks is noteworthy for a few reasons.
First, Nike recently launched a signature shoe for A’ja Wilson — who there is a statue of outside of Columbia’s Colonial Life Arena — but the Gamecocks haven’t been able to wear the A’Ones in a game because of their agreement with Under Armour. Now, if South Carolina wants to, they can rock the shoes of the greatest player in program history while dominating the rest of the SEC.
Second, Dawn Staley has a preexisting relationship with Nike that could be rekindled. Long before Wilson was playing in the WNBA, Staley had her own signature Nike shoe, the Zoom S5, which debuted in 1998.
“I didn’t really care what I looked like from my ankles up, as long as ankles down were nice, new and clean. … And I think that came off as supercool to Nike … authentic,” Staley told ESPN’s Andscape in 2021. “I think my shoe was the flyest of them all. Some women’s shoes look like women’s shoes. I didn’t think my shoe looked like a woman’s shoe. It looked like a dude could really appreciate it and wear it… The Zoom S5 was a beautiful shoe. Nike needs to bring that thing back.”
It’s unclear if Nike plans to revive Staley’s shoe, but we’ll always be able to rewatch the commercial she shot for the Swoosh in 1996.
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