South Carolina sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley did not start against UCLA on Sunday after coach Dawn Staley chose to continue with Bree Hall in the starting lineup. This has become a recurring theme for Fulwiley, who has not gotten enough game time and some fans were not happy about it.
No. 1 South Carolina suffered a crushing 62-77 defeat against the No. 5 UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion, LA, ending a 43-game winning streak.
MiLaysia Fulwiley and Dawn Staley (Image credit: IMAGN)
Fulwiley barely played in the game — she logged only three minutes and scored 0 points. She came in for Hall with five minutes left in the first quarter, missed two jumpers, and committed a turnover before being taken out shortly after.
This did not sit well with Gamecocks fans, who voiced their frustration on X/Twitter over Staley’s handling of Fulwiley.
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Here are some of the reactions:
“MiLaysia Fulwiley needs to hit the transfer portal after this season. this is sabotage,” one fan tweeted.
“MiLaysia Fulwiley should go to a team where she can be a superstar and get a bag off NIL. Being a bench player on a stacked team is old news in the day & age of NIL & transfer portal,” one X user wrote.
“MiLaysia Fulwiley, transfer sweetie. You are a starter on another team,” another one added.
“Why is Milaysia Fulwiley not playing?? She needs to transfer!!! Dawn Staley stay hatin on her!” a fan asked.
“Dawn already not starting her let’s get out of their sister!” another user tweeted.
“milaysia fulwiley YOU👆 are in the transfer portal,” one tweet read.
“MiLaysia Fulwiley gotta get outta there. Dawn buggin,” another added.
Limited game time leaves MiLaysia Fulwiley’s potential untapped
MiLaysia Fulwiley joined South Carolina as a five-star recruit last season. In her freshman year, she averaged 11.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, while playing 18.4 minutes on average. She won the SEC tournament MVP and earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team in the conference.
Coming off the bench this season, Fulwiley scored 18 points against NC State, 23 points against Coopin State and 12 points against East Carolina. Despite her stellar performances, her game time has been limited in this stacked South Carolina team.
“[MiLaysia] is a dynamic guard. I thought, for the most part, she was lean as lean could be — like, playing great,” Staley said. “And sometimes, she can’t bite the bullet. But if she could play as lean as she played today, I can eat some of the stuff that she tried to do.”
After playing only three minutes against UCLA, her average playing time this season dropped to 19.8 minutes per game, which is about the same as last season.
