Everything Dawn Staley stated to the media after the win versus Mississippi State

Thursday night, No. 3 South Carolina beat the Bulldogs 88-45, extending their win streak to four. The victory propels the Gamecocks to 23-2 overall, and a league-best 9-1 in conference play.

Here’s everything Head Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley said following the dub.

Joyce (Edwards) got 1,000 (Points) tonight, in terms of games, she beat A’ja (Wilson). She said she didn’t know. What do you think about that?

“Do you believe that? Joyce knows about everything. She knew how close she was; she knew when she was going to do it. It’s great. She put the ball in the hole, and we’re not surprised at how quickly she got it. We’re just happy that we said that she’s on our team.”

What does a lineup of three bigs allow you to do defensively?

“We’re still playing with that lineup. We’re kind of forced to play it. So we practice it a little bit. We got a couple of sets that we like to use. We use maybe one of them, and then we just we’re actually just seeing what we can get Ali(Cia Tournebize) more involved. We see that every day you learn something new about her. I do think she’s very comfortable facing the basket, very comfortable on the perimeter, and to see her court vision, to see her. Actually catching the ball and getting into her skill set and not getting sped up was really good. I think other games have sped her up so much that you really can’t see all the things that she can do. Tonight, you can see a glimpse of what she can do. Really, really good court vision, can really shoot the three.

So with her being able to face the basket a little bit more with the other two bigs that actually mostly play with their backs to the basket, it really helps us to keep the floor moving a little bit more often than not.”

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball! 🏀

Do you have a status update on Tessa Johnson you can share?

“No, I mean she’s just banged up. We afforded ourselves a big lead. Not putting her in a situation where she could hurt herself more, she’s just a little sore. So we just opted to keep her out and get her ready to play for the Tennessee game.”

Ayla (McDowell) is getting her first start tonight. What went into the decision to give her that opprotunity and what do you see in her that you like so much?

“We gave her the opportunity because they were just big on the perimeter, and we wanted to bring Mouse (Maddy McDaniel) off the bench just because she can spell Ayla, Raven, or Tessa. I just thought there was a bigger defensive presence and more of a boxing out, a bigger guard. And then she’s just floor spacing. I’m just happy to see her shot go down. She played the top of the two-three zone incredibly. We know that when we charge her with a task, she’s actually pretty good at just seeing it through. We like the fact that she’s predictable when it comes to that. It really helps us when she’s able to make shots.”

How would you assess McDowell and McDaniel in their first starts over the last two games?

“Great. They’re ready. They logged enough minutes to be able to play anyway. Starting lineup, being the boost off the bench. They’ve earned it. They’ve played well when their numbers been called. So it was just a matter of trying to match up. And it was nothing against Mouse not starting today. It was just everything in trying to try to figure out a good match-up.”

🏀 GamecocksW newsletter: WBB coverage delivered straight to your inbox!

Is it particularly gratifying as a coach in that moment to see such excitement from the play (Alicia to Adhel Tac) that was pure chemistry?

“Bless both of their souls. She (Tac) comes to practice every single day, and she is Adhel. She’s communicative. She’s energetic, and she doesn’t know whether she’s going to get a minute or not. She’s very consistent with how she approaches practice. So for her to have just a moment in which she felt comfortable. It’s great. They’re close. They’ve taken Ali in, and Ali feels really comfortable in her skin. She’s getting more and more comfortable off the court and on the court. It was great to see them.

She’s getting more comfortable. And I think the crowd helps her get comfortable. It really helps our players. There’s a certain level of comfort when they hear our fans cheer for them, positively.”

To see Ayla so locked in during the second half, is that something you want to see more of from her throughout the season?

“She does that. I’d like to see more of her making threes because the defense is always there. An intangible piece of what she does is diving on loose balls and giving extra, multiple efforts. That is who she is. I’m happy that the ball went down, because I don’t think she’s had a three in a long time in a couple of games. While we are shorthanded, it feels pretty good, especially going into a game like Tennessee on Sunday.”

How did you feel about the defense tonight?

“We had two good days of practice. So any time that we see we have some shortcomings, we work on them, and we try to fix them. The zone is something that we have worked on. Just because we have to play a bigger lineup, and they, they played it extremely well. They were moving around. They were connected. So it was good to see, I didn’t anticipate that they played as much zone as they did. Maybe they really looked at the A&M game, and they thought that was good. The sequence of slowing us down. They really did slow us down in the first. They anticipated us playing this a little bit more zone. Probably not on Sunday, though.”

What are the chances of Ta’Niya (Latson) or (Agot) Makeer making it back for Sunday?

“I’m not going to tell you. What was Ta’Niya yesterday (on the availability report)? She’s questionable.”

That question will be answered on Sunday, as Dawn Staley’s squad hosts Tennessee in Colonial Life Arena for a battle for a firm grip of the SEC crown.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!