Everything Dawn Staley said after South Carolina's 68-62 win over Michigan

South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media following the team’s 68-62 season-opening win over Michigan on Monday. Here’s everything she had to say.

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On South Carolina’s halftime speech

“I mean, I thought they (Michigan) just put us back on our heels, thought they got all the 50-50 balls. I thought they just played harder – they just attacked us. They imposed their will on us, and they were in attack mode for most of the night. We made adjustments – I did see us get on the floor for loose balls. I did see a little bit of nastiness to our game, and prettiness – that’s what you want to see.

“It’s a really young season, and we’re going to get everybody’s best all the time – we’re fortunate to do it. I welcome everybody’s best because, if you’re the target, you’ve had some success. And we’re not going to shy away from, obviously, having that target on our back. We’ll we we’ll hear the rumblings of, ‘They’re not the number one team in the country,’ or this, or that. They don’t put us the number one team in the country – we’d rather not have it.

“But now that we’re going to play like there’s no number attached to it, obviously, we got some adjustments to make. Obviously, we got some players that have to make adjustments to certain roles in our basketball team. And that takes a little bit of time. I thought Michigan probably got their players in a more position to do that because they have a totally new roster, so they have the freedom to do that.”

On Raven’s Johnson’s rough outing

“They left her open. Sometimes, when they leave you as open as they left Raven (Johnson) – Raven’s been hitting those shots in practice, and she’s been hitting those shots in our exhibition game. So, I don’t think she’s taking bad shots. We would probably much prefer her in a little bit more rhythm. Just passing it around the horn and taking standstill shots is not going to work in games – you got to create rhythm shots by attacking the paint, kicking out, and then, you can see it coming a little bit better. But she defends, manages our basketball team. When Raven scores, it’s extra for us. But she’s going to score for us, and I hope I hope she doesn’t lose confidence because she didn’t score tonight.”

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On South Carolina’s made three-point shot to end the first half

“We didn’t hit a whole lot of three-pointers in the first half, so anytime you can see one go down – (it was an) unselfish play by (Te Hina Pao Pao) to even find Tessa (Johnson) for that kick-out. It’s one of those kind of rhythm shots – Tessa needed it, we needed it.

“I think our players are playing extremely unselfish, but we got to find a way to put the ball in the hole, especially if we gonna take 26 threes. We got to do a little bit better job of being more efficient.”

On the Naismith Hall of Fame Series

“I think these these youngsters – I don’t think they really have an understanding of any anything outside of their worlds. So yes, we have to expose them to events like this. And yes, there’s a Naismith Hall of Fame, and they too can be a part of the Hall of Fame if they take care of the game. They got to love up on the game, and the game will love up on them. Maybe one of them, or two of them – I don’t know what percentage will find themselves in the Hall of Fame.”

On the basketball atmosphere in Las Vegas

“We brought our team here. We brought our FAMs here. There was a lot of um South Carolina women’s basketball fans that came, that filled this arena up. But the fact that we can stand alone and play in a stadium like this and play before men’s game and still have a huge crowd out there, so our game is growing. This is just a tip of the iceberg where you’re going to see more and more. I think you’re going to see more and more women come to Vegas and play, so I think it’s it’s cool to be a part of the first – well actually we’re the second. I think LSU-Colorado played, right?”

On the performance from South Carolina’s post players

“I saw a little bit of a lack of experience, even for our experienced players. It’s different roles for them. So, (Sania) Feagin, it’s a different role – she’s used to coming off the bench. Now, she’s in a starting role, and that role is a lot different than coming off the bench. It is.

“You got to perform – we got to know what we’re getting from our starters. People that are coming off the bench, they could probably play more of more of a natural role – if you’re a scorer coming off the bench, go score, all right? If you’re starting, then you got to know what we’re doing. You got to have energy. You got to either blend in, get rebounds, run our offenses; or you got to make an impact. It just can’t be nothing, as we can can pull somebody out of stands to give us nothing. And I’m not saying Feagin gave us nothing. I’m just saying the roles that you have to play, if you haven’t been a full-time starter, are different.”

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On South Carolina’s second-half adjustments

“I thought we did pretty good controlling controlling their drives to the basket. Once they drove to the basket, if we got out of position, they got ahead of the possession, and they just made us scramble and rotate out. I thought we did a better job at that, and once we did that, they start exposing us.

“Joyce (Edwards) hasn’t been playing college basketball for a long time. So there was some actions they put her in that made her late, and she got sucked in on some penetration. She wasn’t seeing her man on the ball, and then they made her pay. (They) knocked down a couple of threes on her, um but I think they would have probably gotten any of our post players with it. So it was just on Joyce – it’s an action that that forces your big to be a guard in that situation. It’s a lot going on, but she’ll get better at it.”

On what made Michigan effective

“I saw a lot. Their shot makers – they are always moving with them without the ball. They know the type of shots that they want, and they don’t settle. And when when people don’t settle for shots, you always have to pay attention to them. You almost have to pay you know the the player that guarding them, as well as the help. So it’s almost like they create so much attention that they’ll make you pay.

“We knew that they are players who can fill the stat sheet, and they did that. I know that their upcoming opponents got some good takes on them because they were able to play their style of play.”

On Staley’s relationship with Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico

“Kim was great. She was great to work with. She’s a fireball – she really understands basketball. Having her on the bench, her mind works. She’s got her team playing like – this is virtually a new team, (but) they look like they’ve been together for a long time. So it’s a tribute to how she’s able to coach and bring out the best in her players.”

On the benefits of seeing the team play through adversity early in the season

“I like that we’ve been challenged. I like the fact that we’ve been exposed in certain areas because, when you’re teaching a team like this, and we play against our Highlighters, it’s not just because we’re playing against guys – we were exposed against young women who were determined to play, and they made an impact like as a collective unit. So it’s great film, great lessons, great gut check, great opportunity for us to learn. And, hopefully, we definitely have to get better by the time that we take the floor to play NC State on Sunday.”

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