Everything Dawn Staley said to the media after practice on Wednesday

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media on Wednesday. Here’s everything she said before the Gamecocks’ game against Missouri to try and win the SEC outright.

What’s the focus going into tomorrow?

“The focus is winning, but at the same time, it’s doing it the way we need to do it. Executing our preparation and ensuring that we don’t put the game in front of doing it the right way.”

Going back to when Chloe Kitts went down to where you are now. Are you surprised you’re No. 3 in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC right now?

“When any player goes down, I feel really bad. We knew what the situation was. So I had some time to think about, like, how do we move, and we just move. We don’t stay in that place too long; we don’t stand in a place of despair. We don’t stay in the place of winning, too long. We turn the page, and you figure it out. We had a lot of post players. So not a lot of post players like Chloe, but a lot of post players that if something happened, we’ll figure out, even if we have to change how we play just a little bit.

And I think we probably sacrificed more of what Chloe brings to the table; she’s a high, low, option for us. So we haven’t done that a whole lot. We’re doing it a different way. I think Joyce is a different type of player. But Madina (Okot) is very similar to our bigs that we used to have down there. We’ve got pretty good guards. So it was a pretty good mix. I wasn’t in despair. You just figured it out. Even if you had to play small. Those were some of the things that we thought about. But if we play small, we got to play young, and we didn’t want to play young that early in the season because the young were unproven.”

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What are you most happy about this season and what are you surprised about with this team?

“I have high expectations for our team, no matter who we have. I’m proud of the way this team has defended, because that was probably the biggest question mark for me. Coming into the season, I knew just from an offensive standpoint, we had really good offensive players. Getting them to work together was another thing offensively. But defensively, we have a way of playing that allows us to win basketball games. And I was a little bit concerned that we wouldn’t be able to play that way.”

Can you put into words what Raven Johnson has meant to this program?

“Raven, I mean, Raven is the most loyal. She’s super loyal. She doesn’t have a mean spirit in her body. She’s funny. She’s consistent. Raven is who she is every day of the week, and she doesn’t come in any different than who she is. So I like that about her. I like that consistency about her. Especially when it’s your point guard. They have a way of leading the charge. And she’s done that for the past five years. I just really enjoy being around her. She’s really just a good person. And she’s going to leave a big void on the court and off the court.

It’s losing probably the last member of the core group of the historical classes that we’ve had. Her class is the one that started it all. And then Aliyah’s (Boston) class came back, and they just formed a core group of players that didn’t lose a whole lot of basketball games and made my life easier.”

Can you talk about Madina and Chloe’s status for next year?

“Madina, we’re trying to get a year back. Whether or not we’ll be able to do that, and prove the conditions she played in her first two years in Kenya was not comparable to NCAA standards. And Chloe will come back next year. I think she said that on Instagram. As far as I know, the transfer portal isn’t open right now.”

Have you heard anything from Ashlyn (Watkins)?

“Ashlyn took the year off. She’ll come back when the year is up. Sometime in May.”

What will it mean tomorrow to give these fans another outright regular-season SEC championship?

“Our fans, the people that support us, really have high expectations. No matter who’s suiting up for us or not suiting up for us. Their expectation is for us to win, and really to win outright. I know they like winning, but I’m sure they don’t like sharing. I’m sure they have pride in that. And they’ve helped us do it. Like, you really can not have the type of success that we’ve had with no one in the gym, with no support. You cannot; that can’t happen. The championship is just as special to us because of who we get to share it with.”

How does it feel to be the beacon of hope for the Gamecock athletic department this season?

“I’ll say this, the students have been great, like, great. This section has been filled up. Whether they give free T-shirts and free pizza or not. And they have been loud. That’s probably the section that has been the least filled throughout our successful time. I think it is super cool to be able to be an example of what it could look like and feel like, to have success. We know that, like we’ve had it here and there throughout different sports. Regardless, win, lose or draw, Gamecocks are proud.

I mean, of course, they want to win, but they’re loyal. They’re never going to go anywhere. And I think it’s truly a badge of honor. For them to tell us what they really think. No matter if it’s good or bad, that means they care. And I’ll take that. I’ll take that over anything.”

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What makes Raven (Johnson) a good point guard?

“Consistency. Her competitiveness and her will to win. When you have those qualities as a point guard, you can take an average team to good. You can take a good team to great. I don’t think we were average when Raven came; I thought we were pretty good and she took us to greatness.”

What does Joyce need to do to improve as a fan?

“Oh my God, Joyce! What does she have to do to improve as a fan? I think she needed to change that look on her face. That one right there. Yeah, change that look. If she smiled a little bit more, she would cheer a little bit louder.”

What type of advantage is it to play in Greenville?

“You are going to get these coaches mad at me again. I do believe we won outside of Greenville. We’ve had some success outside of Greenville. (Edit: South Carolina has won SEC Tournaments in Little Rock, Jacksonville, Greenville, and Nashville.) Do I think we’re successful because we’re in Greenville? No, I think we’re successful because we’ve had really good teams. Do I think that the crowd is biased? Yes, because it’s in proximity to our campus. So there’s a little bit of edge, but you still have to play the game. It’s a great city. It’s always a great city to hold an event. Once the event is over, the game is over for that day. It’s a great place to eat, you know, family time. All of that, like it really is. I don’t think the SEC would choose to commit to being in a place that wasn’t profitable, and I do think it’s profitable.”

South Carolina hosts the Missouri Tigers on Thursday at 8 P.M. for senior night. The matchup will be streamed on the SEC Network.

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