COLUMBIA — Coach Dawn Staley announced on Wednesday that South Carolina women's basketball will open its 2024-25 season in Las Vegas.

Staley said the Gamecocks have a location but the opponent has not been finalized.

"I don't know if I should say this but we are going to open the season in Vegas against an opponent that is fluctuating because the opponent we were supposed to play is not going to play us anymore ... we will play in Vegas though, I will give our listeners that much," Staley told 107.5.

The 2024-25 schedule is not complete but Staley added UConn will come back to Columbia again and the Gamecocks will play at UCLA. With the ACC-SEC challenge, Staley said the Gamecocks will likely play a top team in the ACC.

"Scheduling is really hard because people don't want to play us," Staley said. "People don't realize it doesn't hurt you to play us, it only helps you."

2024 ROSTER: South Carolina women's basketball looks loaded again in 2024-25 roster under Dawn Staley

Last season, the Gamecocks opened up what turned out to be their undefeated, title winning campaign in Paris when they played Notre Dame.

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dawn Staley on South Carolina schedule: 'People don't want to play us'