Dawn Staley: 'I hope they're crying, I hope they're boo-hoo'ing'

Dawn Staley hopes the South Carolina players that return next season will use Sunday’s national championship loss as motivation. The Gamecocks suffered an 82-59 loss in a game where they trailed the majority of the way against Connecticut.

It was an extremely disappointing result for a team coming off of a national title last season and looking to cut down the nets for the fourth time in Staley’s career. With the wounds of the loss still fresh, Staley sent a message in her postgame press conference about how to turn the pain into a positive and aim for more next year.

“I hope they’re crying,” Staley said. “I hope they’re boo-hooing. Because from crying and having emotion about losing, it makes you work a little bit harder in the offseason and really analyze what the separation is between their program and our program and how we close the gap with that.

“They’re very talented and I think they got a great experience of playing at this level that I hope they have a desire to get back here and do all the things that it takes to play in the national championship game and deliver the blows they need to win.”

South Carolina managed to keep things within striking distance throughout the first half, even leading briefly in the early part of the game. But they would never lead again from the second quarter on as UConn took control and had a double digit advantage entering halftime.

Things only got more out of reach for the Gamecocks from that point on as the Huskies extended their lead to 20 points by the end of the third quarter. Ultimately, UConn shot 48.4% from the floor in the win while South Carolina was a mere 34.4%.

No Gamecocks starter scored in double figures and no player overall had more than 10 points in the loss. It came as a major surprise considering the evenly matched contest that many fans were expecting.

The good news in the face of defeat is that many of the key contributors on this South Carolina squad are eligible to return in 2025-26. That includes Joyce Edwards, who led the team with 12.7 points per game as a true freshman. MiLaysia Fulwiley, Chloe Kitts and Tessa Johnson all also have eligibility left.

That in mind, those players will look to take Staley’s advice and use this loss as motivation to come back more prepared next season. Perhaps it can lead to different results as the Gamecocks will surely be hungry to write a different story.