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Everything Dawn Staley said after South Carolina's win over Georgia

by:Kendall Eaves•about 10 hours
Dawn Staley (Katie Dugan/Gamecock Central)

Following a 74-42 win over Georgia on Thursday, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media. Here is everything she said.

Dawn, not the first time y’all have seen a zone defense. Just how do you think your team reacts to it when they first see it, and I am sure they planned for it, but how do you think they handled it well tonight? 

“I thought we handled it well. It’s just we didn’t make any shots. I thought it was just like, you know, I thought we gave up some fluid shots. Breezy, she got shy, probably because she felt like she was shooting a lot, but when you shoot it in rhythm it’s your shot. When you think about it, we got to start getting ahead of the possession all over again. I thought we did a really good job and I thought our highlighters did a really great job. Too good of a job and they were moving it. Georgia was moving it, but there were some holes that we took advantage of and we could not finish it quite in the bucket.”

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You talked about wanting to see improvement rebounding. You outrebounded them 47-28 tonight. How do you assess how you guys played it on the boards tonight?

“I think we did a better job at boxing out. I thought we did a better job at just scrapping, if you could not get it, hit it out. Chloe (Kitts) was great.  Sania (Feagin) was great. I thought Tessa (Johnson) got in there and was just scrappy. So, we will need every bit of that as we move forward.”

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Late first half, you went to have a four-guard lineup with Adhel (Tac). You have not done that all year. What spurred that and how do you think that group played?

“Just to get a shooter in there. They were playing small ball too, so we just kind of matched up with them and just spaced the floor to see if we could get some penetration. I thought Maddy (McDaniel) did a great job today. We have been trying to work with her to get back to pre-Christmas form, and I think she is getting there. She is about there.” 

Chloe (Kitts) was just in here talking about her three-point shooting. Obviously it’s the third game…she’s talked about gaining confidence from behind the arc. From your perspective, what has that journey been like with her?

“She’s strong enough to do them now. She was not strong enough last year and the year before. That just takes maturity and time and working in the weight room. When Ashlyn (Watkins) went down, I actually charged our post players with picking and choosing opportunities to shoot a three. Just to create better spacing. Chloe’s the only one who has taken me up on it.”

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Dawn, have you found any last-minute ways to get to the Super Bowl? Are you going to make it back for kickoff?

“No. I won’t make it back for kickoff, but I am hoping to make it back for halftime. I gave the tickets back with a message. Whoever gets these tickets is going to be as enthused and energetic as I would have been if I was in the building.”

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