GREENVILLE — South Carolina women’s basketball fans may want to forget about the Gamecocks’ 78-61 SEC championship loss to Texas on March 8 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
But South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wants to remember it.
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“I told the team about what happened the last time we were in this situation,” Staley said.
The last time the No. 1 seed Gamecocks fell short in the SEC Tournament, they ended the season as NCAA champions after defeating UConn in 2022 for Staley’s second title.
And even though the Gamecocks (31-3) would’ve preferred a fourth straight SEC Tournament title, South Carolina plans on learning from its crushing loss to prepare for the NCAA Tournament.
“This might’ve been the very thing this team needs,” Staley said. “It’s not what I would’ve thought yesterday, coming into today. But now that we’re here and it’s a reality, we search for things that have a connection and could give our team what it needs to make this run for a national championship.
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“I think we have enough in our room to do that. We’ll rest and regroup and start that journey.”
The Gamecocks looked like a completely different team from their first two meetings this season vs Texas (31-3)- a 66-64 Longhorns win in November and a 68-65 South Carolina SEC win in January.
South Carolina fell behind 14-0, then 27-12, their largest first-quarter deficit since women’s college basketball switched to quarters in 2015.
South Carolina’s sophomore forward Joyce Edwards wasn’t pleased with her team’s start, but she knows what the Gamecocks have to do to correct it.
“It was bad,” Edwards said. “It was bad on all the starters. We’re supposed to set the tone out there, and we definitely didn’t do that. But it happens. Shots that we usually make just weren’t going in.
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“We’ll learn how to push through physically and mentally. Obviously, playing three games in three days is super tough. But we can’t let that stop us. The NCAA Tournament is going to be just as brutal, just as tiring. We can’t let all the fatigue get to us.”
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South Carolina is still projected to be a No. 1 seed when the brackets are announced Selection Sunday on March 15.
“Our team knows they didn’t play their best basketball,” Staley said. “Not nearly what we’re capable of doing. We’ll let the girls take four days off, and we’ll get back to practice on Friday to prepare for the long ride ahead.”
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Kamryn Jackson covers high school and college sports for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Greenville News, Anderson Independent Mail, and the USA TODAY Network. Please email her at KEJackson@gannett.com and follow her on @KamxJack (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: How Dawn Staley reacted to South Carolina getting crushed by Texas
