South Carolina women’s basketball wins best team, A’ja Wilson wins best athlete at ESPYS

South Carolina solidified itself as the best NCAA women’s basketball team with an emotional national championship victory in Cleveland three months ago.

On Thursday, the undefeated Gamecocks won the ESPY for Best Team — amateur or pro — in the nation this year.

South Carolina defeated other collegiate national champions — Michigan football, Oklahoma softball and UConn men’s basketball — for the award along with reigning pro league champions of the WNBA (Las Vegas Aces), NBA (Boston Celtics), NFL (Kansas City Chiefs), NHL (Florida Panthers) and MLB (Texas Rangers).

Gamecocks past and present took home hardware, as USC legend A’ja Wilson won Best Athlete/Women’s Sports and Best WNBA Player. She could not attend the ceremony but sent a video speech thanking fan voters, coach Dawn Staley and the states of South Carolina and Nevada.

ESPY stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly. The ESPY Awards is an annual event hosted by ESPN to honor top athletes and sports performances of the year. Staley was also honored with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award.

South Carolina completed the first undefeated season in NCAA Division I since 2016 and brought a third national championship trophy home to Columbia this year.

This was USC’s second team nomination. South Carolina was up for Best Team after winning their first national championship in 2017, but the Chicago Cubs won the award.

The Gamecocks were not nominated after the 2022 national championship season, but Naismith Player of the Year and Final Four MOP Aliyah Boston was up for Best College Athlete in Women’s Sports. Oklahoma softball player Jocelyn Alo took home the honor.

Last year, Wilson was up for Best Athlete in Women’s Sports, which Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin won, Best WNBA Player and part of the Aces’ nomination for Best Team. She won her second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award last season and was named Finals MVP after leading the Aces to back-to-back championships.

Wilson is regarded by many as the best women’s basketball player in the world. She leads the WNBA in points (26.9), defensive rebounds (9.2) and blocks (2.7) per game.

Wilson finished third in WNBA All-Star fan voting (607,300) behind the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark (700,735) and Aliyah Boston (618,680). Wilson will go to Paris later this summer in search of another Olympic gold medal with Team USA.