South Carolina women's basketball news: DJ suspended, Joyce Edwards steps up, chances of an undefeated SEC season

No. 2 South Carolina moved to 20-1 on the season with a win over Tennessee, finishing up a stretch of five consecutive games against ranked opponents. The Gamecocks won all five games.

It might look like smooth sailing for the Gamecocks, whose only loss was to undefeated UCLA back in November, but there are still compelling storylines surrounding the team.

Here are three things to take note of about South Carolina women's basketball.

Arena DJ suspended after playing song by Flau'Jae Johnson's late father

The University of South Carolina has apologized to LSU star Flau'Jae Johnson after the team's in-arena DJ played a song by the player's late father.

The South Carolina athletics department issued a statement on Sunday in which it states that DJ T.O.'s "actions were understandably upsetting to Flau'Jae Johnson and her family and disrespectful to the LSU program and its fans." The DJ has been suspended for South Carolina's next home game.

Following South Carolina's home victory over LSU, DJ T.O. played an instrumental version of the song "Cut Friends," a track recorded by rapper Camoflague, Johnson's father.

Camoflague, whose real name was Jason Johnson, was shot and killed six months before his daughter was born.

South Carolina says it "will meet with [DJ T.O.] to provide further education on our expectations of her in the future."

Joyce Edwards has stepped up in the absence of Ashlyn Watkins

South Carolina suffered a major blow at the beginning of January when Ashlyn Watkins suffered a torn ACL against Mississippi State. The injury ended her 2024-25 season after 14 games. Watkins averaged 7.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.9 blocks per game before the injury and was a key frontcourt reserve for the team.

Luckily for South Carolina, Dawn Staley has built the deepest program in the country. There's always a player who can step up.

With Watkins out, Joyce Edwards has stepped up. Including the game where Watkins went out, Edwards has scored in double-figures in seven consecutive games.

In the six games without Watkins, Edwards is averaging 16.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 63.5 percent from the floor.

Edwards, the 2024 Gatorade National Player of the Year and espnW's No. 3 overall recruit in the 2024 class, was expected to be brought along slowly because of the presence of Watkins and Chloe Kitts in the frontcourt, but has been pressed into a more important role now that Watkins is sidelined.

Her early success is also a reminder of how Staley has built a program that wins year after year. There's always anoher good, young player ready to step up, and it's why this program is right there in the championship conversation every single season.

Can the Gamecocks go undefeated in SEC play?

Following consecutive wins over Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU and Tennessee, South Carolina remains undefeated in conference play. Of those five victories, just one was by single-digits.

In fact, South Carolina's seven-point win over Tennessee was just the second time all season that it won a game by fewer than 10 points. Aside from the 15-point loss to No. 1 UCLA, South Carolina's resume this season is untouchable.

Will it stay that way? Possibly. Her Hoop Stats gives the Gamecocks a 97 percent or better chance to win five of its remaining conference games and an 80 percent or better chance to win two others.

But there's one more game that the Gamecocks have to worry about: a Feb. 9 road meeting with Texas, with the Her Hoop Stats algorithm actually showing Texas as the favorite there, with South Carolina possessing a 46.7 percent chance to win the game.

The good news for South Carolina is that it always showed it could defeat Texas, beating the Horns 67-50 earlier this month. It was the worst offensive performance of the season for the Horns.

Both Texas losses have been on the road and this game will be in Austin, so it's certainly going to be tougher for South Carolina to win this one than it was for the team to win the second.

Betting on any team to go undefeated in conference play is difficult and that looming game against Texas makes for a difficult path, but Dawn Staley's program hasn't lost a conference game since the 2021-22 season. Even if Texas is favored by the computers, South Carolina is probably the real favorite there once the players hit the court.