Dawn Staley doubles down on defense of South Carolina against Geno Auriemma's criticism

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is still not backing down from comments from UConn’s Geno Auriemma. Following an 81-77 loss to the Gamecocks on Feb. 6, Auriemma was critical of the officiating.

The Huskies coach called a technical foul he received for slamming a water bottle “stupid” and said it is “appalling” how teams defend UConn star Lou Lopez Senechal. That prompted a strong response from Staley, who defended the way her team played on her radio show the next day. Staley appeared on The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday and tackled the subject once again.

“I’m all about protecting our players,” she said. “I’m all about protecting the integrity of our game. Do we play physical? Absolutely. We play physical. Do we do it the right way? Absolutely. So for us, we’re gonna continue to do it that way. If you really don’t like how we play then you have to adapt. We’ve done it plenty of times. Plenty of times we’ve adjusted. And we’re probably gonna have to adjust next year because we’re not gonna have the same team that we have this year. That’s what we’ve done for 15 years that I’ve been here at South Carolina.

“I’m proud to know the team that we coach. I’m proud to coach the team that steps on the floor every single day and I’m gonna protect them every time that I can when they are seen and talked about in a light that is something other than doing it the right way.”

Two of the top coaches in women’s college basketball, Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley have met many times over their careers. Auriemma’s teams got the better of Staley’s early on, but that trend has reversed over the past couple of seasons. South Carolina has won three straight against UConn, including the national championship last year.

Finebaum asked Staley whether she believes the recent success might contribute to more criticism. The coach said that hasn’t crossed her mind, and she believes regardless the coaches and players alike should treat their competitors with respect.

“I’m not thinking about us being this or that in women’s basketball,” she said. “I just want to do things the right way. I’ve always just wanted to have integrity about how we do things. Protecting the game. I’m all about that. Even if it’s at our expense, I want to protect the integrity of our game. If it’s being looked at as a certain way that doesn’t line up with the integrity of the game, I’m gonna say something. That’s how I’m gonna coach it. It’s not about just South Carolina, it’s about our game.

“It’s a struggle to find a place where people actually treat us like a sport. And if we don’t treat ourselves that way and we’re not respectful of each other, no one’s gonna be respectful of our game. So we’ve got to lift each other up and make sure that we’re only putting our game in a good light. Because people do like to talk about, more so than the game, all the other risks that come with it. Really, I’m not for it. I just don’t have the tolerance for it.”

After winning the national title last season, Staley looks to have South Carolina on track to compete for another in 2023. The Gamecocks are a perfect 25-0 so far this season and coming off of a dominant 88-64 victory against No. 3 LSU on Sunday. They’ll look to keep rolling when the take on Florida on Thursday.