South Carolina Women’s Basketball Takes Its Game Outdoors in Charleston

For the first time in program history, South Carolina women’s basketball will take the court outdoors, trading the familiar hardwood of an arena for a temporary basketball court at Credit One Stadium in Charleston on Sunday.

The exhibition matchup against the College of Charleston will give the Gamecocks an unusual challenge. The venue is best known as a tennis stadium, but for one afternoon, the seats, court, and atmosphere will be built around basketball.

And while playing outside is new territory for South Carolina, the idea is hardly new to the sport.

A Tennis Stadium Becomes a Basketball Court

Credit One Stadium has primarily served as a tennis venue, while also hosting concerts and other major events. This weekend, crews will transform the facility into a basketball setting for the exhibition.

Tennis stadiums have proven to be surprisingly natural homes for basketball because their size and bowl-style layouts resemble traditional basketball arenas.

The professional game has already experimented with the concept.

The Phoenix Suns played three preseason games at the tennis facility in Indian Wells between 2008 and 2010. In 2008, the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever also met in a WNBA regular-season game at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

At the time, Arthur Ashe Stadium did not yet have its current retractable roof, meaning that game also placed professional players under open skies.

The NBA went even further decades earlier, staging a preseason game at a baseball stadium in Puerto Rico in 1972.

But college basketball’s outdoor history is even more unusual.

College Basketball Has Gone Far Beyond Arenas

College teams have played on the decks of aircraft carriers, including the USS Yorktown in Charleston. Four college basketball games have taken place aboard carriers, while two additional games were scheduled but ultimately canceled.

Football stadiums have also been used for basketball, while outdoor volleyball has brought courts into baseball and football venues.

The unusual settings are part of a broader trend toward turning major sporting facilities into temporary stages for different sports.

That is also why tennis stadiums make sense for these events. Their seating configurations can accommodate a basketball court without requiring a complete reinvention of the venue.

On October 7, another example will take place near Cincinnati, where a tennis facility will host the CareSource Invitational featuring Ohio State, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Xavier.

“Temporary Court” Does Not Mean Inferior

When the outdoor exhibitions were announced, some fans were understandably concerned by the description of a “temporary court.”

But temporary does not mean makeshift.

In fact, most Division I basketball courts are temporary installations. That includes the court at Colonial Life Arena, South Carolina’s regular home.

The NCAA routinely installs temporary courts for tournament games, while the WNBA’s Liberty used the Madison Square Garden court when they played at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

So the court in Charleston may be temporary, but that does not make it inherently less suitable for high-level basketball.

The bigger question is what surrounds the court.

Weather Is the Real Wild Card

For all the planning that goes into an outdoor basketball game, one factor remains impossible to control: the weather.

That has already caused problems at similar events.

In 2012, two scheduled aircraft-carrier basketball games were canceled because moisture made the playing surface unsafe. Earlier this year, a volleyball match between Nebraska and Missouri at Wrigley Field was suspended after condensation developed on the court.

That is the concern South Carolina coach Dawn Staley is watching most closely.

“We are real concerned about the court conditions,” Staley said.

South Carolina and Charleston will have a chance to observe the conditions during the two games scheduled before their matchup. Staley emphasized that the priority will be making sure the surface is safe before her team takes the floor.

“We’re not going to put anybody in harm’s way,” Staley said, stressing that player safety comes first.

Fortunately, the forecast offers little reason for immediate alarm. Sunday’s conditions are expected to feature temperatures in the mid-80s, partly cloudy skies, and only a 3% chance of rain.

An Exhibition With Plenty of Flexibility

The fact that Sunday’s game is an exhibition also provides some breathing room.

Unlike a regular-season contest, there are no conference standings or postseason implications riding on the final score. If conditions become dangerous, the teams can simply choose not to play.

That flexibility is important when basketball moves outside the controlled environment of an arena.

For South Carolina, though, the experience offers something valuable: a chance to play in an environment the program has never encountered before while introducing the Gamecocks to fans in Charleston.

There will be a different feel to the game—the open sky overhead, the possibility of shifting temperatures, and the unmistakable uncertainty that comes with an outdoor court.

The basketball itself will remain familiar.

Everything around it will be different.

And if the weather cooperates, South Carolina women’s basketball’s outdoor exhibition game at Credit One Stadium will give the Gamecocks a memorable first experience outside the traditional arena.