South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley has been busy in the 2025 offseason. The tenured tactician has been doing interviews with the launch of her first book, “Uncommon Favor”, which released on May 20. She was guested by commedian Ronny Chieng on The Daily Show on Friday, May 23.

Dawn Staley and Jalen Brunson. – Source: Kirby Lee & Vincent Carchietta, Imagn

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During the interview, Chieng asked Staley about how game one of the New York Knicks versus Indiana Pacers 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Finals matchup ended.

New York lost 138-135, in overtime after Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton hit a game-tying buzzer-beater at the end of regulation, capping off their 17-point comeback.

“Knicks in six. But the probability of what happened was an anomaly. That doesn’t happen very often when you’ve got a 17-point lead and lose it. No, it doesn’t. I probably would’ve been fouling the guy who was banging like five threes. I wouldn’t have let him get those shots off,” Staley explained. (2:04)

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Staley was asked what she would do if she was in an end-game situation and her team down by three points.

“I would say I’m gonna extend the time. Time is not on your side. So if you foul with 30 seconds, there’s a lot of time left in order for you to play that cat and mouse game,” she shared. (0:56)

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Jalen Brunson and New York lost 114-109 to Indiana in Game 2 on Friday as they fall into a 2-0 deficit.

Dawn Staley shared how she would motivate the New York Knicks

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In her interview on The Daily Show, host Ronny Chieng asked Dawn Staley how she would motiviate the New York Knicks as a coach if she had the opportunity. Staley replied:

“I mean there’s really no motivating. You’re in the Eastern Conference Finals. It is, you’re at home, you still have an advantage. When the home team loses, then it becomes a really good series. … The loss itself is embarassing, and they know what to do,” Staley said. (4:17)

Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks are coming off a 2024-25 season where they finished with an overall record of 35-4, 15-1 during SEC play this year, and reached the 2025 NCAA national championship game.

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big “four” universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby’s favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ’s alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school’s colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.