Dawn Staley claims South Carolina wins, loses 'at the time we need to'

Most programs would be ecstatic to be halfway through February with two losses but most programs aren’t South Carolina women’s basketball. After going undefeated last season and winning the national championship, expectations were at an all-time high for head coach Dawn Staley and her Gamecocks entering this season.

While South Carolina isn’t undefeated this season, it’s still the No. 4 team in the country and firmly in the hunt for a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament. After South Carolina’s 101-73 win over Florida on Thursday, Staley delivered a reassuring message to any fans worried about the Gamecocks’ pair of losses this season.

“We win and we lose at the time that we need to, simply,” Staley said. “We respond when we do not play well and win. There are things that we dissect because we know that if you play the way that you played in a win, but you did not play well, it could hurt you somewhere else down the line. We do talk about those things.

“We just wanted to get back in the win column. Just to feel good and get back to some normalcy when it comes to playing the style of play we need to play on both sides of the ball. We still got a little bit of work to do, but I do not think there will be a lack of focus, energy or effort with who we have coming in here on Sunday.”

The win over Florida Thursday was a bounce-back effort for the Gamecocks, who fell to Texas 66-62 in their previous game. In the win, South Carolina’s defense was suffocating, scoring 24 points off the Gators’ 17 turnovers.

Four players scored double figures for South Carolina but nobody outplayed Joyce Edwards, who erupted for a game-high 28 points while shooting 10-17 from the field.

South Carolina will have a chance to build on its momentum when it squares off against No. 7 UConn on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ABC and be covered in a special edition of ESPN’s College GameDay.

The two teams also met last season, with South Carolina escaping with an 83-65 victory. Now, the Huskies will be looking to exact revenge just over a year later. Of course, it won’t be easy.

The ESPN College GameDay crew set to cover the women’s basketball special includes Elle Duncan, Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter. The group can expect a surplus of viewers after massive matchups like this drew record-sized audiences last season.