Everything Dawn Staley said after South Carolina's win over Penn State

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley spoke to local media following a 95-55 victory over Penn State.

Here is everything she said.

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Dawn, you knew Madina Okot was gonna be out. What was the plan to try to limit Gracie Merkle in the paint?

“I mean, we wanted to just make sure that she didn’t get any direct passes in her direction. And in order for you to do that, you always have to have your feet higher than hers, you always have to be in front when you are one pass away. Feet above, two passes away. And then when the ball goes in the air, we don’t just go for the ball, we actually just maintain contact with her and crowding her space. So I think Maryam [Dauda] and Ahdel [Tac] didn’t perfect that until today.”

Joyce Edwards had three different career highs today. I know you expect this kind of play from her, but just how crucial was it to play the way she did without Madina?

“You know, Joyce is gonna play that way with Madina, without Madina, with anybody. If it’s a game with a ball that’s being played, she’s gonna play to the best of her ability. I mean, she’s just playing really loose and just finding a way to impact the game through an entire stat line. Do we want the rebounding to be a little bit better? Yes, we do. But the other stuff, the five assists and no turnovers, you know, the six steals, four blocks, like, you know, that is who she is. And I do think we are working with her to just kind of be more than a scorer, because she is one thing that can pretty much fill a stat sheet. It wasn’t at times where she did that. Now she’s aware of it now. And she’s executed.”

Obviously, you don’t want to force any offense from anyone, but just your overall thoughts on the offensive bench production so far, nearing SEC play?

“Just improving. We want to just improve. What that looks like for us is taking good shots, okay? I mean, and that’s basically it. It’s not, you know, if we’re gonna get comfortable, I don’t think all of them are comfortable, and that’s okay to me. They don’t have to be comfortable. When you’re comfortable, you probably lend yourself to doing stuff that you’re not supposed to do. So there’s a little bit of fear of not doing the right thing, which keeps us a little more disciplined. But, you know, I like what we’re bringing to the table. I don’t think, you know, I think Maddy [McDaniel is] starting to get back into the swing of things. Ayla [McDowell] is holding her. I think we can get a little bit more out of Ahdel and Maryam, so we just continue to work with that. And I think it’s good that Madina didn’t play, you know, and they can build some confidence. Definitely defensively, offensively will get the go a little bit.”

Coach, huge discrepancy in the turnover margin, 26 to 5. What did you see and what did you like from your team in terms of taking care of the ball?

“I like the fact that we took care of the ball and we had great ball movement at times, like really good ball movement. We thought they were going to press us a little bit more, and they didn’t. So we just executed. We moved the ball; we had 20 assists on 37 field goals. I mean, we’re moving in the right direction. So I like the fact that we have single-digit turnovers.”

I know it’s been a tough season just with injuries and illnesses and things, but what are the positives for the healthy players, having to adjust, you know, maybe being a bit uncomfortable? What are the positives for them in those situations?

I mean, I think the positive is mentally they’re going to the games, that they’re gonna play a whole lot of minutes, and they haven’t conserved. Like, they haven’t conserved defensively. They surely aren’t going to conserve offensively. But I just like their mentality, which is the next woman of, like, whether we have eight to practice with, we’re just going to keep moving forward. If we can add another player to the mix in a day or two, the next game, be great. But I want us to always feel like we got a chance, we got enough in the room to win, no matter what the stakes are.”

What’s the prognosis for Madina and Agot [Makeer] to make the Florida trip?

“I mean this day to day. I mean, we’re not going to force them to make things worse. I think we’re very conscious. I think we’re super conservative. And I don’t have a say in it. I get a report every day, and the report is that we’re going to continue, but they’re not there yet. They do some things in practice, and they’re not there yet. So we’ll just, you know, adhere to what they’re telling us, and if we get them back, it’s going to help us. If we don’t, we just got to keep moving forward.”

The first nine points of the third quarter were all fast-break points. Was that a focus going into the second half to get out and transition before they could set their zone?

“Well, I would say it was probably a product of our defense and rebounding, like, I mean, we didn’t. We gave up 22 offensive rebounds. So, you know, a lot of times they were just getting their own rebound and making us playable a little bit longer. So I think we’ve got rebounds and we pushed, and we saw people up the floor.”

I guess it was the second game, Ta’Niya Latson got herself going in the second half. How do you kind of channel that to get it throughout the game?

“I don’t know, I mean, she’s getting looks. So, I mean, it is, you know, I think Ta’Niya does best when she gets off to a good start. I thought she got off to a good start because she got a lot of assists as well. Like, and you know, when I look at the stat sheet, and she’s got four assists, no field goals of like. You know, got to give her some touches. So we may try to manufacture some touches to where she’s in a comfort zone. Sometimes she makes it, sometimes she does it, but I don’t want her to get rattled because for someone that can score a lot of points in bunches, you know, as long as a lot of time is left in the game, there’s a lot of opportunity for her to just, you know, create some opportunities for the sport.”

When you got back from Vegas, you mentioned that free throws were kind of a takeaway that you had. I’m just curious, like, is that as simple as practice and kind of routine? What do you see there?

“I will say we practice every day. Every single day, there is not a day that goes by. It’s becoming a little mental now and we can’t just say, ‘Oh, it’s going to fix this stuff. We got to still do something. You can practice a little bit more over here to help us in this gym. But probably a little mental. I hope it turns to where it’s not even, it’s just routine at this point.”

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