Everything Dawn Staley said to the media after a top-six win at LSU

On Saturday night, the Gamecocks took down the Tigers in a thriller. The 79-72 victory also earned Staley her 500th career win as head coach of South Carolina’s women’s basketball team.

Here is everything she had to say after the victory.

What is your general assessment of how Madina Okot handled everything and how she played in the fourth?

“Madina has been ramping up. Ever since we took the pressure off of her for two games (coming off the bench), we decided that she didn’t have a choice, and she had to get back in the starting lineup. I think she made big plays for us. She rebounded consistently out there and made probably the biggest play of the game.

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Raven (Johnson) gave her a lob in the dunker, and she made it, took her time, and made it. Truly proud of her because she’s been through some things this season, and hopefully she can gain some confidence from this win.”

What was the reason for the sweatshirts today, and what did you think about the (LSU) fans tonight?

“We were just trying to figure out what to wear. We did. Our staff wanted to wear white, and someone else brought up, “Let’s do the ‘Boo’ hoodies.” I think everybody stayed in character because I heard a lot of boos again.”

How important were the efforts of Raven Johnson and Tessa Johnson tonight after playing close to the entire game?

“They had to (play a lot of minutes), when you’re down in volume without Maddy McDaniel, you’ve got to. Obviously, a lot more than we wanted them to play, and we did try to get them a little break before timeouts. But they’re built for it. I think if they could have gotten a couple of other blows throughout the second half, they might have had enough energy to make some more slow plays down the stretch, but they were exhausted. They got us over the mountain top.”

What did it mean for your team to get this one (win) tonight?

“It’s like that. It was two of the best teams in our conference, in the country, just trying to get a win. We all said the game is going to be determined in those plays (Where players are tired). I thought LSU got multiple offensive rebounds at the end of the game that put them in a position to close the gap and go ahead. And then at the end, we got lucky.

Flau’jae (Johnson) doesn’t miss free throws. And we actually got a bucket after that. It’s those kinds of plays that are determining the game. They had 18 offensive rebounds on us, and 18 offensive rebounds from a team like LSU means they win basketball games like this. So, it’s just surprising to see just how bad it was after the game.”

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What did you think about your offensive execution in the last 90 seconds?

“We put the ball in Raven Johnson’s hands to make a play. We put it in a couple of people’s hands, and we got good looks. When it was down to that last possession, Raven was going to play make for herself or for her teammates. Fortunately, Madina (Okot) snuck behind the defense to give her a little layup. I thought she took her time because there were a lot of times she caught it and made a move; there was a crowd there. She took her time and put it on that white square and it went in.”

How would you assess where this team is in the SEC and overall, especially after getting a win like this on national television?

“I think this team sees the end of the tunnel. Meaning, they know we’re at the end of the season, so it’s a little bit easier to just focus on what we have in front of us. This was a huge game in front of us, a huge game on the road. Very hostile environment, very NCAA tournament-like. We just found a way to win. I think this team is finding ways to win, a lot of different ways, especially when we’re not fully healthy.”

How crucial were the late minutes from Ayla (McDowell), Agot (Makeer), and Maryam (Dauda)?

“Huge, huge. Maryam gave us a lift. Got a block shot; she had presence out there. It’s kind of unfair for her to play and not play almost the entire game when her numbers are called. She is someone who practices like she’s going to play every single day, like a real character person. This is her last year; she plays five minutes here and there, but you can never tell in practice. The basketball gods really repaid her tonight for that because it was a key block that she got.

Ayla’s always going to give you what she’s got. I’m happy for Agot getting out there because I know she’s been hurting. It was good to get her some minutes and understand that we’re going to be here down the stretch. Big three, big three by Agot.”

When you have somebody like Tessa (Johnson) who gets a hot hand in the first half, how do you balance trying to force the ball to the hot hand versus not sacrificing the rest of your offense just to go to one person?

“She was our offense, to be quite honest. We did a really good job with force-feeding her the ball because she was hot. Tessa did a great job getting herself open and square to the basket. It’s not on her fingers long before she’s launching it, and I’m very fortunate that she was very efficient. We needed it to stay close, especially with the type of crowd that they had, because every miss, you heard it. Every transition basket they got, it really, really matters. We wanted to do some things that could keep the crowd out of it, I don’t think we accomplished that but we did enough to get the win.”

South Carolina’s season continues on Thursday, where they are back on the road against No. 23 Alabama.

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