South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley got honest about MiLaysia Fulwiley only playing 10 minutes during their March 23 NCAA Tournament game.

Mar 21, 2025; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard MiLaysia Fulwiley (12) handles the ball against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles during the first half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The No. 1 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2025 NCAA Tournament after their 64-53 win over the No. 9 seeded Indiana Hoosiers on March 23.

Given how the Gamecocks’ roster is constructed this season, it has become common for them to get scoring from several different players instead of relying on one great player to get most of their buckets. This means that any player could lead the team in scoring on any given day, and also means the minutes allocated to players are typically dispersed depending on how they’re playing in any given game.

On Sunday, sophomore superstar MiLaysia Fulwiley only scored 3 points in 10 minutes played, which was the third-least amount of minutes for any South Carolina player and the third-fewest minutes she has played all season.

Dawn Staley addressed this directly when speaking with the media after Sunday’s game.

“No, no,” Staley said after being asked whether anything was going on with Fulwiley in the game. “I thought she got off to a slow start, then it was hard. We had good combinations in and usually it’s Fulwiley out there. It just didn’t happen today.

“I thought she handled it well. She wants to play, we need her to play, we need her to play well and it wasn’t anything besides just [other] units out there playing better,” Staley continued.

Therefore, it sounds like fans can expect to see more of Fulwiley during the Gamecocks’ Sweet Sixteen game against either Alabama or Maryland next weekend.