South Carolina to retire A’ja Wilson’s Jersey

Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson will continue to get the superstar treatment. South Carolina will be retiring the two-time WNBA champion’s jersey and will be the first women’s basketball player to have her jersey retired.

The ceremony will take place on February 2.

For South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, the ceremony can’t come quickly enough.

“A’ja Wilson is by far the best player in the world,” Staley said during Carolina Calls, “I think it should’ve happened a long time ago.”

Wilson will be honored ahead of the Auburn game, and the Gamecocks will be chasing their 70^th home win. The pair racked up 129 wins together.

South Carolina announced the jersey retirement ceremony back in October.

From 2014-2018, Wilson wore the number 22 and helped the Gamecocks gain national notoriety. She was also an integral part of the 2017 NCAA Women’s National Championship team.

It was the first national championship win for the school.

During her days at South Carolina, Wilson was the only player in program history to be named an All-American all four years. She is still the all-time leading scorer in program history with 2,389.

Wilson ended her collegiate career to win every National Player of the Year award in 2018.

Among all those accolades that Wilson has managed to wrap up in such a short time, South Carolina also erected her statue in front of Colonial Life Arena in 2021.

Staley recently commented on Wilson’s legacy and encouraged fans to attend Sunday’s game.

“She is such a national treasure that we don’t get to see her as often as we like,” Staley said before joking about how Wilson needs to come around more often. “We have to retire her jersey for her to spend a weekend with us. So, we might have to have an annual jersey retirement for A’ja to see her more than once a year.”

The No. 2 Gamecocks face off against Auburn on Sunday at 9 a.m. PT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.