South Carolina women's basketball: Getting to know Maryam Dauda
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Forward Maryam Dauda transferred to South Carolina this offseason after three seasons at Arkansas. Now a redshirt junior with two seasons of eligibility remaining, Dauda met with the media last week and talked about adjusting to a new program.
Q: What is it like transitioning to South Carolina and trying to get to know everybody on the team?
Dauda: I just felt like, obviously being the new person on the team, and them bringing everybody back, I just felt like I would fit in perfectly. And when I came on my visit, Adhel (Tac) and Raven (Johnson) were my hosts, and I just clicked with them right away and everything. And when I came here, we had our first official meeting as a team, and the girls were very welcoming and everything. I clicked right away. I’m a very like, open, talkative person, and I just felt like I fit right in with everybody.
Q: You and Maddy McDaniel are roommates and she told us how you are learning the ropes together. What has it been like?
Dauda: It’s been amazing. I feel like Maddy is a quiet person. I tend to be quiet also around people that I don’t know and I’m planning to know and everything. And I feel like we’ve transitioned very, very well. And living like close to the gym, we walk together to practice every morning, and we walk back every morning. I feel like that’s improved our friendship. Since we’re like the new people on the team, we’re learning the ropes of everything. So just being roommates has been very helpful. And also having Joyce down the hall and Adhel. It’s been very helpful.
Q: Do you feel like a freshman again or is it “I’ve done this before. I know what I’m doing?”
Dauda: To some extent, I feel like I’ve done this before. I know what I’m doing, but then I’m just, like, with practice and being somewhere new and just learning how everybody plays I feel like a freshman again. Which is amazing being a freshman because it feels weird, like I’m about to graduate, which is crazy. I just felt like I just got into college and now I’m about to be done.
Q: For those that haven’t seen you play, describe your game.
Dauda: I would describe my game as a versatile four player, somewhat five, because of my ability to shoot the ball very well from the three-point line and also stretch the floor out for the guards and everything. So I just feel like being able to shoot the ball and being able to, if I have a mismatch in the post, I could be inside a post up too.
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Q: How have you been fitting in in practice with everybody competing for the same spots?
Dauda: I just felt like coming in. I just didn’t want to come in and be like, Oh, I’ve played in college forever. I know what I’m doing. I just wanted to flow right in and just let the girls and the coaches – because I feel like their system of playing is so different from where I was at and everything and learning the ropes of everything, I felt like the coaches, the girls, everybody, has helped me through that transition. And it’s been very, very competitive, I’ll tell you that. And I feel like I’m working really well with the team and just making sure I’m doing the right thing, everything right, to make sure I mesh and every with everybody else.
Q: What do you like to do off the court?
Dauda: I like shopping.
Q: You and Dawn will get along great.
Dauda: (Laughs). Shopping and just like hanging out with people and just doing the little things and making TikToks, obviously.
Q: What’s your major?
Dauda: I’m an econ major.
Q: What do you think you want to do whenever basketball’s over?
Dauda: I am planning on running my own business internationally, an apparel business, because I feel like, as tall people, we do not get much. So I’m just like, let’s have, let’s have a little more, more stuff for tall people. So that’s what I am planning on doing..
Q: Looking at this group of newcomers coming into a team that won a national championship, how do you feel about trying to fit in?
Dauda: I think at first coming in, I was very, very nervous. I could tell you that Maddy and I were very nervous because we were talking about it along the first few practices and everything. But my first practice, Coach Staley, she came up to me and she was like, I could see in your face that you look nervous. It’s okay to be nervous and it’s okay to mess up. When everybody else came in, they messed up too their (first) few times going through the drills and everything. You just got to keep going and pushing hard and just don’t stop playing. And I just felt like, from that moment on, I was okay with, like, I gave myself a little grace with making mistakes and just like fighting through. Also the girls, like, if I made a mistake, someone’s just gonna come up to me and give me a high five and be like, Oh, it’s okay. Like, you can move on and everything. So I just felt like the transition helped a lot, because I had people around me to help.
Q: You’re used to starting in the SEC, the other two newcomers are used to being the best players on the basketball team. How do you think that will go once the season gets here and there might be games you don’t play a lot?
Dauda: I just feel like I knew what I was signing up for coming in, and I just felt like I saw Coach Staley’s vision. I feel like coming in obviously, like playing at an SEC school I know how it is. Playing in the SEC, it’s gonna be physical. Some nights it’s not gonna be my night. Some nights it might be somebody else’s night and everything. I just feel like I shouldn’t let that bring me down or bring my game down. I just have to fight and just keep on going.
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Q: You could have gone a lot of places and played 30-35, minutes again, but you wanted to come to South Carolina. What was it about South Carolina?
Dauda: I wanted to play against the best of the best, and I wanted to be coached by the best. And I felt like when I came on my visit, I felt the competitiveness from the way Raven and Adhel were talking about practice. Not to knock on my old team, I just felt like it was so different, and I haven’t even stepped foot on the court yet, and I felt the competitiveness from them talking about it. I just wanted to feel that way, just wanted to come here and just have a taste and just be part of it and everything.
Q: You’re going from a radically different system that’s not always favorable for bigs, to a system that is usually focused on getting the ball inside. How are you getting used to a different style of play and was that appealing?
Dauda: I am adjusting pretty well. I felt like, like I said, the coaches have been helping me through it, and I feel like my biggest thing right now is focusing on defense. I felt like throughout my years of college, that’s not a focus for me, and coming here, just getting the steps right and making sure, like I need to do this when this is happening or whatever. And I just felt like focusing on defense right now is one of the biggest things for me.
Q: Are you working mostly at the four or the five right now?
Dauda: I’m working both.
Q: Describe how you’re settling in.
Dauda: I’m just gonna say this. I told my parents this. The first time I came into practice and Coach Staley came up to me, I was so starstruck because I was like, she is my coach and everything. I felt like, after that moment, I talked about it with my parents, I was like, I’m getting coached by the best. I’m playing with the best. I’m playing against the best every day in practice and everything. That is setting in for me, and I’m loving it.
Q: How have you been in practice so far?
Dauda: Every day has been competitive. Every day has been very competitive. There’s no coming in and like, oh, I don’t have to do that much today. No, you’re coming in, you’re fighting every day. Every little thing is a fight. Like, even if we’re going through a 5-on-0 drill, it’s like you’re learning, you’re going, we’re moving and we’re going.
Q: How did it come to South Carolina and you knew this was the place you wanted to be?
Dauda: Once I put my name in the transfer portal, the South Carolina coaching staff reached out to my AAU coach. They called me and they were like, South Carolina is on the phone, do you want to talk to them? And I was like, (duh) Yes, it’s Dawn Staley. Like, who wouldn’t want to talk to Dawn Staley? That’s how my recruiting process started. I talked to her, and we set up a visit. It. I came to my visit, and it was, it was amazing. When I came on my visit, how I knew this was home for me was when I got to the airport with my family, I didn’t want to leave. I was just like this, this is a sign like I need to come back, and this is meant to be home.
Q: Dawn was very complimentary of you after South Carolina played Arkansas last season. Were you aware of that? And what did you think when that happened?
Dauda: No, I wasn’t someone actually commented on my Instagram post and was like, Did you see that Dawn Staley commented about your game. I looked up the video, and I was like, wow, that’s that’s crazy. I was not expecting that at all, but it made me feel very happy, obviously, hearing her talking about me like that. It just showed me how good I am and I could be on a better level and everything.
Q: South Carolina has a long list of legendary post players, how appealing was that for you to come to a place where they really develop those players for the pros?
Dauda: It was, it was obviously a deciding factor. Seeing A’ja Wilson in the league, and seeing Aliyah Boston, and then seeing Kamilla being how dominant they are in the league and how dominant they were in the SEC, that was a deciding factor.
Q: When you played South Carolina in the past did you ever think I’d like to be on that team? Or did that not occur to you until you entered the portal?
Dauda: It didn’t occur to me until I entered the portal, and I’m glad to be here.
