Everything Dawn Staley said after close win over Louisville

South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media after a 79-77 road win over Louisville in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Here is everything she had to say.

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Was there anything Louisville did that you were not expecting or executing very well?

“I think overall we executed. It’s a great basketball team. They both executed, they both, you know, was a heavyweight boxing match, and it came down to who was going to make the biggest at the moment you needed it the most. I thought they got out and made big plays for themselves in the fourth and building the five-point lead, and it was a turning point for us, whether we were going to succumb to losing the game or fight to get back in it.”

“Jeff [Walz] ‘s always notorious for just throwing jump defenses, and I thought they did get us after a timeout one time, where we didn’t execute. We turned the ball over. But for the most part, I thought we were good the entire game.”

How impressed were you with Louisville’s ability to go toe for toe, and what was the ability of your team to outlast them?

“I think they rose to the challenge of playing in the SEC-ACC Challenge. They’re at home playing in front of their crowd; they got a big crowd here. It was a great atmosphere, and they played to that. And we knew that they are a really good basketball team and to come in here in shootaround and see all the towels laid across the chairs across the arena, we were anticipating there would be a lot of people here and I guess they just returned the favor that we give so many teams that come into Colonial Life Arena, so, it was good to be in this atmosphere and actually win the basketball game.”

Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson and Tessa Johnson all played 38 minutes tonight. I know you were down a player, but how do you think they dealt with that and were able to lead the team when they needed to in the fourth?

“I mean, they’ve got to play heavy minutes for us until we develop our bench a little bit more. I mean, I thought maybe once in the fourth quarter, they looked really winded. And fortunately for us, I think [Jeff Walz] challenged an out-of-bounds score. And if he didn’t, I was going to call a timeout. Luckily, he did because we would have probably burned, you know, all of our timeouts and not have them to end of the basketball game, especially when Tessa got tied up. So, yeah, I mean, you look at them, and you see, do we give someone a blow here or there? And I thought we did a pretty good job in the first ha;f. Second half, we didn’t feel strong enough to just sub them out. They had good chemistry, they were playing well together, but we did get our bigs out of the rotation, proud of Ayla [McDowell] for coming in and giving us some really great minutes.”

You’ve talked about this team finding its identity, and back-to-back close games aren’t easy. What did you learn about the team tonight?

“Well, I mean, I learned that we do have some resiliency to see it through. You know whether we won or lost this basketball game. It’s a great game. We took steps forward. Fortunately for us, we won the game. I think Madina [Okot] has to be in more situations like this to continue to rise to the challenge. I know she’ll probably spend a lot of time just beating herself up regarding free throws, the missed free throws and the missed layups, but I mean, you look in the stat sheet, she’s 10 for 16. She’s got 13 rebounds, like 23 points. And she probably doesn’t think she played well, but we don’t win if she’s not on our side.”

Louisville had a bigger lineup today. You guys obviously have size. What did you see from that close presence, and way those post players battled?

“Yeah, it was great. It was great. It was a big lineup for them. And I thought they just played extremely well. Very, very just calculating if they wanted to get. Guard play with great for them. You know, they utilise their bigs. You know, I thought we did a great job on [Laura] Ziegler. I think Ziegler was really a player that we just kind of keyed in on because she’s got a big game capability. They use her, you know, to bring the wall up the floor. They use her as a kind of a point forward. But I think because of, you know, her lack of contributions as far as, you know, shots and made shots and production, we win the game because of that. Everybody else would have stepped up.”

I asked Raven about the three straight baskets by Madina. Was that a conscious effort to get the ball inside, or was it just making the right reads on those plays?

“Well, that was our number one option, is to get her the ball; she’s a high percentage shooter, and then if we couldn’t give her the ball, then it’s about players making plays. I mean, you can have the most talented team, and if someone blows up your play, you’ve got to have players with big plays. I thought Raven was great down the stretch. I thought Ta’Niya and her, you know, her dumpoff tour with Madina was great. So, I mean, it was good that, you know, I mean, you feel that the problem is the right opposite of what we felt, the last time that we took it before.”

“And then before I leave, I just thank our local media for coming, really for covering us. I see a lot of you guys in here and appreciate you leading the way and covering our team on the road. That’s not something that happens everywhere, so, appreciate you. Safe travels home.”

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