Everything Dawn Staley said before the Gamecocks' matchup against Mississippi State

Wednesday afternoon, Head Women’s Basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media before hosting the Bulldogs. Here’s everything she had to say.

Will (Ta’Niya Latson and Agot Makeer) be able to play tomorrow?

“I guess you’ll know tonight, you’ll figure it out tonight.”

How much confidence does it give to know that you can always keep adjusting to see who’s going to play these different roles?

“The game is about adjusting. No matter who you have, no matter if you have a full roster. It’s about adjusting and putting our team in the best possible situation. I think the last few days will help, whether we have Gotti (Makeer) or Ta’Niya or not. I think offensively, we did some things that should hopefully clear things up or put people in positions where they can be effective, and it doesn’t impact the space on the floor. That’s what’s really been impacted. Hopefully, we can open the floor up a little bit, allow our guards to maneuver a little bit, and put our bigs in a situation where they actually can be effective and score.”

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You haven’t gotten a lot of production from the bigs in the last couple of games. Is that because of not being able to space the floor? What do you want to see from them?

“I just need a better connection. It’s probably not high-low. We’ve been wanting that because that’s where we’ve had the most success over the past couple of years. We just don’t have that; we don’t have the personnel for it. So we’re not going to continue to try to do it. We’re going to try to get it to other places, where their movements are exact. This is where they’re going to be in the six-foot space. This is where you’re going to operate this, and then everybody else will play around that.”

How do you assess and grade how chemistry and flow is when it’s a different lineup?

“There are times that we have great chemistry out there. And there are times that we don’t have it. So, we got to catch it when we can. You can’t force it as much as we want to force it and play a certain way. We actually have to play according to how they wake up every day. That’s different, is it great? No, it’s not great, but if you’re coaching and that’s what it is. That’s how you got to play to it. So it can’t just be one consistent way, like we’ve been playing. I’m stubborn, but I’m not stubborn enough to just keep trying to do it, and it’s not working.

We’re going to keep trying to figure out what’s the best offense that we can utilize to get the most out of our players in the most consistent way. So we’re still trying, we’re still winning basketball games. But it doesn’t look good. And it really doesn’t have to look good. As long as we’re winning and we’re figuring it out. We’re always in constant motion and trying to get the best out of them on any given day.”

Do you bring it up to this team, anything can happen if you’re not ready?

“They watch it. We are the recipients of people’s best efforts. We’re always just one 40-minute period away from someone upsetting us. Yeah, we feel it. We see it. I get text messages saying, they didn’t play like that against us, I get them all the time, and they never will. They never will play that way. We’re up against our success in this league, and people don’t forget.”

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What are you seeing from the league (SEC) this season specifically?

“We’re good, I mean, we’re really good. We have really good coaching, we’ve got really good talent. We got a league that has leadership. Leadership put us in a position where we are the best conference in the country. ADs are making decisions to find coaches who will compete at the top of this conference. It’s a trickle-down effect of everybody having a hand and us having to fight it out. I just hope that at the end of the day, our league is rewarded by the NCAA selection committee. We’re rewarded in that way because it is a dogfight, and I don’t know what metrics they’re going to use to reward us, but I think it’s unlike any other conference in any other way. They got their work cut out for them. I know they’re watching the games, and it is result-driven, but it’s not. It’s hard to be results-driven when we’re beating up on each other.”

Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. When you were coming up were there any athletes or coaches who inspired you?

“I’m inspired by people, women who have just tirelessly fought for our game to grow and fought for girls’ sports to grow, women’s sports to grow. Tara VanDerveer, Debbie Ryan, Anne Donovan, Vivian Stringer, all of the coaches who loved up on our game when it wasn’t popular or as popular as it is today. It’s always a special time for us to not only showcase what these talented young ladies are doing, but we also get to reach back in our history. Because, without them, there wouldn’t be any of us.”

Maddy (McDaniel) continues to look more comfortable. What can you attribute most to allow her to continue to blossom?

“I think Maddy has incredible support. She’s growing up, she’s maturing. You could say she’s getting more playing time. She’s doing some great things out there running our basketball team. She’s consistently defending; it’s a consistent thing. And she’s running our team consistently. There’s not a whole lot of bad basketball. She’s playing at the perfect time, especially when we have some players who are just trying to get back to some good health and get back out there on the floor. It’s good to know that such a young player was listening last year. When she did sit, she was learning. Now that she’s able to get out there and play extended minutes, she’s executing.”

What have you seen from Mississippi State on tape and what kind of challenges do they bring?

“Super athletic, pressure defense. They’re an elite rebounding basketball team. They got players who really put you back on your heels. Driving the ball down the floor, then if you honor that too much, they’ve got great three-point shooting to back that up.”

The Gamecocks tip off at 6:30 P.M. tomorrow against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, attempting to grab their 23rd victory of the year.

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