Everything Winston Gandy said on return to Colonial Life Arena, opening loss to South Carolina

Grand Canyon women’s basketball head coach Winston Gandy spoke to the media following the Antelopes’ 94-54 loss to South Carolina on Monday night.

The game also marked Gandy’s return to Colonial Life Arena to receive his final four and SEC Championship ring. The first-year head coach served as an assistant under Dawn Staley from 2023-25.

Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening Statement

“Well, I finally get to see kind of what a lot of other teams got to experience the last two years here. I mean, first, obviously, I want to send prayers Maddy (McDaniel)’s way. I mean, I hope it’s nothing to serious. Obviously, you hate to see anyone go down regardless of what team.”

“But, you know, I thought they came out of the gates and the three-ball was flowing, you know? And obviously, that’s the risk you take, right? You can’t take anything away from a great team. You’ve got to pick your poison. And it’s one of those things where I kind of had in the back of my head, and I was like, there’s a good chance that that was going to happen. But, obviously, like I said, don’t get a phenomenal job building the team where you have to literally pick your poison, and you’re at their mercy. And so, really balanced scoring. I mean, again, I believe the whole starting five was in double figures. They did a tremendous job sharing the ball, taking care of the ball. And when you’re two to one assist, the turnover ratio, that’s going to be really, really hard to beat.”

“So, was proud, obviously, of our kids. Obviously, we got foul trouble early. But it was nice to see us stay in the game. Because obviously, the game got away before halftime. So some good, I would say, kind of positive takeaways. You know, as we obviously go back and continue on the non-conference, but you know, again, we knew when we were coming here, I knew what I was signing myself up for, and so, you know, you have the golden standard of women’s basketball. I know we’re nowhere near that, but you’ve got to start somewhere. And sometimes when you don’t know what it looks like, you’ve got to feel it. You’ve got to experience it. So very, very fortunate for the opportunity that we had tonight.”

Welcome back, Winston. 34 three-point attempts tonight. Is that what this team is going to rely on offensively?

“Relies on it. I hope not. You know, I think we did certainly take 34, and I probably say a good 10 of those were ill-advised. So, you know, it’s one of those things where, again, when you’re playing a great team, we knew the pain points were going to be hard to come by, and so you’ve got to adjust gameplan-wise, and it kind of lended ourselves where we had some open looks. And I think when you take good shots, good shots tend to fall, and when you don’t take good shots, that basket gets tighter and tighter, which it did on us this evening.”

Hey, Winston, welcome back. Just what were your emotions tonight, being back here at the CLA but, you know, being on the other bench and as a head coach now?

“Yeah, I think it was a little weird. I mean, even coming in, I think I went to the wrong locker room. It was like one locker room off, and they all started laughing. But this place has been great to me. Obviously, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time here, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the sense of community.”

“Dawn obviously hasn’t just built a great program; it’s been a community as well. And so to be able to come back here and see a lot of familiar faces from that standpoint, obviously, again, you know, you see players that you work with, that you saw grow. Again, you know, this is a hard game. I can see why people probably don’t like doing it, you know, because it’s kind of bittersweet, if that makes sense. But really, really cool to see a lot of late faces, a lot of growth, which, for me, that’s why I’m in this game, is to impact young women’s lives, and so to really kind of see that on both sides, come to fruition is really cool.”

Hey, Winston, was this week, or these past few days, hard to balance what you knew was coming, both to see friends and people you cared about and worked with, and to focus on getting your team ready to play in a place like this?

“Yeah, I guess that’s a fair question, seeing we got pounded by 40. But no, no, no, no. I mean, I think, I think for me, you know, I’ve got a great wife, and she kind of handled a lot of that stuff, obviously, coming back home for her. But I think for me, you know, that’s one of the things where Dawn kind of showed me that for two years. Doesn’t matter what arena you’re playing (in), like the game is the game. There will be things that happen outside the game, but you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing. So I think I know, personally, I think collectively, as a team, as a program, like, yes, there was a little additives outside of the game, but that really wasn’t much of it a deterrent or obstacle this week.”

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Obviously, you coached Raven Johnson for two years, but like you said, you’re on the other side of things now. What makes her so special and so hard to stop on both sides of the floor?

“Well, I think the thing about Raven, I’ve tried to explain this to people that haven’t been within these walls, is she’s a winner. You can’t shut her down, because she can impact the game in both ways. You know, people try to go back to one game or look at a percentage here or there, but I remember that my first year, we don’t make it, let alone win it, without it. And it goes far beyond whatever your percentage is. I think if you look across WNBA, NBA now, when you see the teams that are winning, they have a great point guard. You’re not picking people. You’re not picking teams based on stats, points, or percentages. When you’re looking at teams that are actually winning it, show me a team that hasn’t had a really, really great point. That’s what she is, that’s what she’s been.”

“And so, for me, obviously, again, being on the other side of it, you know, you try to prepare your kids from that standpoint, but she is the best in the business. And again, even when her offense, you know, maybe you know, a little like said you saw, you saw it kind of come to fruition tonight. And her offense jump-started a lot of other people’s offense, her ability to pass, her ability to see the game. And, like, set her pace, her tempo. You know, everything will be lucky. I know we would. And I know, you know, pretty much every team they’re gonna play against, they would love, everybody would love to have a Raven.”

You mentioned earlier picking your poison with South Carolina a little bit when Raven and Tessa Johnson are playing the way they played tonight, and then you add in Ta’Niya Latson. It seems like that side of the poison is a little more potent now?

“I don’t know, I don’t know if I would say potent. I mean, you know, you can’t sleep on Joyce (Edwards), you know. I mean, part of why, maybe she didn’t get as many shot attempts or good looks, was we’re trying to take away the pain and try to take away, you know, some of the threes from some of their key players.”

“And so, you know, again, I knew, I don’t know if there is a better front court than (Madina) Okot and Joyce. I don’t. You know where they can score from the perimeter, you saw that. Like, they had no problem making that mid-range. Then you surround them with the guards. I mean, again, like I said, I was, I was knowing every open shot looking like, oh, goodness, oh goodness, you know. And then some of those, I just had to smile, because, you know, I know the work that those kids put in, and at the end of the day, the best players make plays, and that’s what they did. All of them really

You talk about your players; they kept on battling throughout. I think Chloe Mann had two four-point plays, you don’t see that very often, and Ale’jah Douglas, she kept on fighting. That’s something that’s probably gonna serve you well going forward don’t you think?

“Yes, 100% I mean, that’s, I think, the cool part, obviously, about the first game, and obviously playing a team like this, where I, like I told them before the game, and even after the game, we won’t play a team that’s better all year. And so to see the way, you know, those kids, Ale’jah, Anisa (Jeffries), stepped up, didn’t look like the game was too fast for him. Was really, really cool, like, again, I mean, even Chloe, I think that’s for us gonna be a little bit of a learning curve.”

“We don’t have improvement players, which we don’t. It’s gonna take four, five, 10, potentially 10 games, to kind of get their bearings, to kind of see it’s a little bit different, you know. I think that’s probably what, you know, South Carolina’s got quite a few go-to plays. We’ve got to figure out who ours are, and that’s only going to come through games. And so I think for us, it was a great stepping stone, if you will, as we kind of continue to learn about ourselves.”

How do you evaluate yourself in your first game as a head coach and how do you take this as a stepping stone?

“Yeah, I mean, you know, you always, again, you know, whether it’s a timeout when you see runs like in that first quarter, you know, you try to call timeouts. And I knew it was going to be an adjustment, you know, I thought for me the first four minutes was going to be very telling, indicative of how the game was going to go.”

“And so I think for me, you know, you try. We did some scrimmages, some closed scrimmages against a few teams to kind of give us a sense, give us a look. But I think for me, just learning to be patient. And so obviously, being on be on the other side of it every year, you know, it’s one thing to win. I think that’s what you know. Kind of separates Dawn from all the rest. Her expectations don’t change. It doesn’t matter how good her class was, that matter how many people you know got drafted. And that, for me, sustaining excellence, you know, is the goal, is the path.”

“And so for me, getting a chance to watch that, then obviously understanding that she didn’t start that way. And so realizing, you know, you can’t skip steps. And so for me, I think giving them grace, which I think for some of the players, obviously we had a lot of transfers, a lot of players that we added, they’re learning big in the sense of, okay, down 20, does coach lose his mind? down 30, down 40, do we even recognize him, you know? And so I think for them, as they get more comfortable, like, look you don’t have to look over your shoulder. I’ve been on the other side and now I’ve been on this side. Nobody’s trying to fail on purpose, so, trying to give people grace.”

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