An emotional South Carolina Gamecocks guard MiLaysia Fulwiley declared that UConn are her team’s new rivals after the NCAA national championship.

Apr 6, 2025; Tampa, FL, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Azzi Fudd (35) defends against South Carolina Gamecocks guard MiLaysia Fulwiley (12) during the second half of the national championship of the women’s 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck.

The South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team was defeated by the UConn Huskies by a score of 82-59 in the NCAA championship game on Sunday.

After the game, Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said, “I hope they’re crying. I hope they’re boo-hooing,” when asked how she wants her players to be reacting to this title game loss in the locker room.

“Because crying and having emotion about losing makes you work a little bit harder in the offseason, makes you look at it and really analyze what the separation is from their program and our program and how we close the gap with that,” she added.

One South Carolina player who was certainly crying was sophomore star MiLaysia Fulwiley. During an emotional few minutes spent speaking with the media, Fulwiley sent a powerful message about her sentiment after her team’s blowout loss to UConn on the season.

“We just to get back in the gym and get better individually, because these teams are going to come for us,” Fulwiley said, per an X post from WACH Fox’s Matt Dowell.

“UConn is going to be like our rivalry for the next few years. They’re young, just like we’re young. So we’ve got to get better,” she added.

Fulwiley finished Sunday’s loss with 9 points and 4 assists on 18 minutes played. It will be fascinating to see how Fulwiley and her South Carolina squad look to improve over the offseason so that they’re better suited to face the Huskies in the future.