South Carolina women's basketball remembers Nikki McCray

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On Sunday South Carolina plays Rutgers in an exhibition to honor the memory of the late Nikki McCray-Penson. McCray-Penson was an assistant coach for both programs.

Following a Hall of Fame playing career, McCray-Penson joined Dawn Staley’s first staff at South Carolina in 2008. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 but continued to coach during treatment.

McCray-Penson helped lead South Carolina to its first national championship in 2017. Following the season, she took the head coaching job at Old Dominion. After three years with the Monarchs, McCray-Penson was tabbed to replace Vic Shaefer at Mississippi State.

She coached the Bulldogs during the 2020-21 pandemic season, but health issues forced McCray-Penson to resign before the next season. After a season off, she joined Coquese Washington’s staff at Rutgers, the position she held until she passed on July 7, 2023, from a recurrence of breast cancer.

The friendship between Staley and McCray began when they were Olympic teammates, first on the famed 1996 team, then continued as competitors in the ABL and WNBA, and finally as coaches. Staley spoke Friday about McCray’s legacy.

“It’s hard,” she said. “Like, I’m watching Rutgers, you see on the bench and you like, slow down and you zoom in, and it kind of kind of takes you back. So it is emotional. But it’s a tribute to a person that really loved basketball. This basketball season will be without Nikki McCray, and I know Coquese and Rutgers, they feel it. I know we feel it, and she wasn’t even on our bench for some time. But the text messages, the checking in, the running stuff by, just the rigmarole of getting started and where we can get an edge. She was still a part of us, even though she wasn’t on our bench, and she helped us throughout the season.”

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Staley said McCray’s impact at South Carolina was “huge.”

“We don’t win our first national championship without Nikki,” she said. “When we won, (Mississippi State) was her scout. She had them down, she could call them out. This right ear probably still hasn’t recovered from her screaming in it. Which actually is a good thing because I’ll always remember. It’s a great tribute, partnering with a great organization, In the Middle. The person that started this organization actually went through treatment, during some of the time Nikki was going through treatment. There’s a huge connection there that will benefit her and her cause, which is giving, giving funds to those women who are going through breast cancer that can’t quite pay for the treatment, because this is a costly one. What better way? Nikki was a giver, and she still finds a way to give.”

Staley explained why this exhibition game, which required an NCAA waiver, is so important.

“This is a big one for me, because (it’s) the legacy of Nikki,” she said. “I don’t know if we let this part out. But I did start an educational fund for her son, Thomas Nixon Penson. So you’ll be able to give to both. So he’s got he’s got eight more years before it matures. I just felt like I needed to do more for her, to keep her legacy alive and what better way to do it than through her son, who’s probably smarter than all of us at the age of ten.”

Staley has not talked to the team about what McCray meant to the program, preferring to keep the players focused on the game.

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I haven’t. I think they understand kind of what she’s meant to me and our program. Don’t really like to overload them with emotions that are near to me, because I need them in the right mindset. This is more of a personal thing for me and for Coach Boyer and everyone else that Nikki’s touched on our staff.”

McCray-Penson did not coach any of South Carolina’s current players, but she recruited several while at Mississippi State. Staley also invited McCray-Penson to attend Gamecock practices during her season off, albeit as a friend and not a coach.

“I really loved Nikki,” said Sania Feagin. “I talked to her a lot when she was at Mississippi (State). So I really loved her. I loved her energy. She had a great spirit. I’m sorry for her loss, RIP, but much love for her.”

“She coached people like Khadijah (Sessions), the alumni that used to go here. Them coming back and telling us what she meant to this program means a lot,” Raven Johnson said. “I remember her recruiting our recruiting class, and she just had a great spirit and great heart. Losing someone like that means a lot to the basketball community.”

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