Dawn Staley responds to Geno Auriemma’s comment that South Carolina plays too physical
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Dawn Staley, South Carolina women’s basketball’s head coach, is sick of the disrespect.
South Carolina is in the middle of an all-time run. Last year’s national champions are a perfect 23-0 on the season, having downed No. 5 UConn Sunday afternoon. Following the game, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma made a comment that South Carolina plays too physical, stating “It’s not basketball” how the Gamecocks play.
Staley defended her team immediately, calling Auriemma out for his comments. Below is her full retort:
“Here’s the thing. We’ve won several national championships playing the same way that we’re playing today,” Staley said. “When you say it’s not basketball, when you say your player has bruises on her body, our entire post players, if we unclothed them, you would see the bruises. I don’t like the narrative that, every time that we’re successful, we’re called something other than players who are locked in, that play hellified defense, that gives it up for the greater good of the game. They play it the right way, they approach it the right way, whether they win, whether they lose, we never denounce anybody’s play, we’re always uplifting the game of women’s basketball. When we were getting our heads beaten in by UConn all those years, I said nothing. We play in the SEC. That’s how we play. We’re not going to change it, and you’re not going to write a narrative about how we play so the officials can change how they call the NCAA tournament.”
The Gamecocks are going to be a tough out. They’ve downed Stanford, UConn, Maryland and UCLA, all top 25 teams. UCLA and Maryland were dispatched with relative ease, too.
The Gamecocks face off against No. 3 LSU this Sunday at 2 p.m. EST.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
