‘Unfamiliar territory’: Dawn Staley’s Reaction to South Carolina’s Loss Against Texas

No. 2 South Carolina suffered a 66-62 defeat to No. 4 Texas on Sunday, marking just their second loss of the season. The Gamecocks are now 22-2 and 10-1 in SEC play. This loss also ends their 57-game SEC regular-season win streak, a streak that stretched back to December 2021.

“It’s unfamiliar territory for us,” Dawn Staley commented. “This is the first game that we’ve lost in two years, I think. The law of averages says at some point, somebody’s gonna get you.”

The outcome has shaken up the SEC standings, with both South Carolina and Texas now tied at the top of the conference, each holding a 10-1 record. The Gamecocks had defeated the Longhorns 67-50 in their previous matchup on January 12.

“I’m just glad they didn’t get us where we can’t survive,” Staley continued. “We still control our own destiny. We do have to look around a little bit and hope somebody knocks Texas or LSU off so we can control it for the rest of the way. I’m sure they’re going to think the same thing with us as well.”

Staley reflected on the game, saying, “We fought in this particular game. There are some things that we definitely can get better at. This type of game, you’re just trying to survive. You can’t really run your offenses. And players have to make plays at that point because you can design the play up, but they can blow it up with their defense, and they did that a lot tonight.”

She added that it’s different when you’re in the environment compared to practicing. “They disrupted us. We worked on some things that we could do to relieve the pressure, but it didn’t work. It’s a lot easier when you’re practicing and you’re not in this environment. It’s loud, and you can’t hear what the play call is, and you’ve got to improvise a little bit.”

When discussing the effect Texas and Oklahoma have on the SEC, Staley said, “I think them and Oklahoma just make us, not arguably the best conference in the country — we are. We are solidified with bringing them in. You’ve got a top five program, you’ve got a top 25 program coming into a league that’s already just unforgiving, and now it’s just survival at this point. Anybody can beat anybody.”

Staley then spoke on the similarities and differences between her team and Texas: “I think we’re pretty balanced. We’ve got what most people don’t have, which is post depth. We have the ability to be versatile. We defend pretty good. They’ve probably got the advantage in the rebounding. So we’ve got to get better in that area.”

After the Gamecocks outscored Texas 22-13 in the third quarter, Staley explained, “I think we came out and we did some things that we wanted to do. They had a lot to do with it. They disrupted us. And I think we had a smaller lineup in that we probably don’t practice as much as we need to practice in these types of situations.”

On using a four-guard lineup late in the game, Staley said, “We need Bree Hall on Madison Booker, or as much as we could stay matched up on her. So we thought we needed to go to a small lineup. They were pretty small as well. We weren’t getting anything from our bigs.”

When asked about defending Texas’ Kyla Oldacre, Staley responded, “Sania (Feagin) is the only one that can guard her — halfway guard her. We give up too much when Chloe Kitts or Joyce Edwards are on her.”

Finally, Staley discussed the significance of the game being featured before the Super Bowl. “Quite honestly, we’re it right now. Women’s basketball is it right now. They’re not gonna put just any women’s game on to be a prelude to the Super Bowl. They put it on because they know the ratings will be there. They knew it was going to be a tightly matched basketball game.”

She added, “I just hope now that people are seeing our game being showcased, that we’ll get the respect in all areas — revenue sharing — we get the respect in all areas that our game deserves.”

A hard-fought battle on Sunday highlighted the growing recognition of women’s basketball as South Carolina and Texas showcased their elite talent in a pivotal SEC showdown.