Everything Dawn Staley said previewing South Carolina's upcoming game against Duke
South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media on Wednesday to preview the team’s upcoming game against No. 8 Duke. Here’s everything she had to say.
[GamecockCentral: Subscribe for $1 for 7 days]
On what Staley liked from the Fort Myers Tip-Off and what she believes South Carolina could improve upon
“I liked the way we played on both sides of the ball for long stretches of the game. We just need to follow it up and continue to play that way. Our luck is we get a top-10 team in the country on our court in the late game, and we got to be ready to go.”
On what Staley saw from Duke that helped it earn big wins last week
“I mean, they play for 40 minutes. They’re very calculating in who they want the shots to come from. They got great go-to players, they got great role players, they got depth, they got talent, they got confidence. And they played a pretty good schedule to tested.”
On how Staley keeps South Carolina focused while on the road
“It’s basketball – nothing better to be doing during this time. There’s nothing. There shouldn’t be anything competing for their time but books – that’s it. So, it’s pretty easy when it’s that clearcut – there’s books and basketball because our schedule lends itself to only to be able to concentrate on that.”
On how South Carolina’s players have dealt with physical and mental fatigue from road trip
“I mean, I think they’re all right – I do. They probably had time to go out on Saturday night because we didn’t have practice on Sunday. So, I do think they feel all right. I think they know the severity of what they have this week, and we’re going to be challenged. And I like the fact that there’s no letup. We can’t have any letups. I like the fact that it’s a focused opponent where we got to out-execute them. We got to be better than them tonight between 9 (p.m.) and 11 (p.m.).”
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Agiye Hall commits
Former 5-star surprise commitment
- 2New
Urban Meyer
Declaring SEC dominance over
- 3Hot
AP Poll projection
Judgement Saturday brings change
- 4
Squirrel White
Former Vols WR ACC bound
- 5
Zachariah, Zion Branch
USC playmakers SEC bound
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
On what will be South Carolina’s biggest challenge when facing Duke
“They can put some points on the scoreboard, so we got to defend. And then, for us, we got to score. I think, for us, we have to be disciplined. I think they like to get up and down the floor. They shoot a lot of threes. We have to be disciplined and taking good shots because, when we take good shots, it affords us to rebound the basketball, and it affords us to get back in transition D (defense) to make sure that we’re guarding their shooters and their rim runners.”
On whether South Carolina has changed its preparations because of late tipoff
“Not for me, for them, it’s just a later start. I’m sure they’ll take a nap at some point, probably doing our normal practice time. But it’s time to rock and roll. No matter what time the game – we playing at midnight – we got to be ready to go. So, the schedule says 9 p.m. We got to be ready at 9 p.m.”
On South Carolina’s defensive intensity
“(I saw) urgency, the want to play better, the want to be more disciplined, the want to not feel what we felt against UCLA, the want to just be better and play better basketball on both sides of the basketball; and then, the want to play for each other and not let each other down.”
