Thursday’s edition of College GameDay ahead of the highly anticipated SEC matchup between the LSU Tiger and the South Carolina Gamecocks was set to be the biggest showcase that women’s college basketball has gotten all season long. But unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans.
The rare southern snowstorm happening in South Carolina this week has resulted in the game being moved to Friday at 5 PM, which was first reported directly from South Carolina’s women’s basketball account on X.
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Friday is the new Thursday, FAMShttps://t.co/7p7k59alFV pic.twitter.com/jqglW1iyhNβ South Carolina Women’s Basketball (@GamecockWBB) January 22, 2025
As a result, ESPN announced that they would be canceling College GameDay ahead of the game instead of shifting to along with the game.
Programming Update: The women’s @CollegeGameDay show originally slated for Thursday, Jan. 23 has been canceled due to the postponement of No. 5 @LSUwbkb at No. 2 @GamecockWBB
Info on future shows will be announced in the coming weeks pic.twitter.com/KZVL2PqgDP
β ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) January 22, 2025
We have obviously seen over the past few years that women’s college basketball can thrive as a ratings entity when it is put on a pedestal.
Now, it’s unclear when the next time the network plans on hosting another women’s College GameDay. The only information that ESPN revealed on any potential College GameDay shows specifically for the women’s game is that there will be “info on future shows will be announced in the coming weeks.”
Thus far this season, the most-watched women’s college basketball game on ESPN networks was the Notre Dame-UConn matchup on December 12th, which averaged 847,000 viewers.
It’s still quite possible that Friday’s South Carolina-LSU matchup will outpace last month’s game. But it sure seems like it would have had an even better chance to do so with the help of College GameDay preceding it.
Regardless, Friday’s matchup profiles to be an excellent matchup on paper, as LSU comes into the game with an undefeated 20-0 record while South Carolina comes in with just one loss on the year at 18-1.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.