South Carolina’s Dawn Staley succinct, says UConn ‘beat our ass’ in national championship

TAMPA, Fla. —  Dawn Staley had never lost a national championship game, but that changed Sunday when South Carolina women’s basketball fell 82-59 to UConn.

The Gamecocks coach made no excuses for the monstrous loss.

“We lost to a very, very good basketball team,” Staley said in the postgame news conference. “They beat our ass but they didn’t make us like it. There’s a difference.”

The No. 1 seed Gamecocks (35-4) and the No. 2 seed Huskies (37-3) traded baskets for most of the first quarter and early into the second. But UConn, which led by 10 at halftime, stepped on the gas till the very end.

South Carolina was outscored, outhustled and dominated in the second half. Staley highlighted the fact that UConn, a strong 3-point shooting team, finished with only one made 3-pointer in the first half — a positive sign as the Huskies made 13 in their 29-point win over South Carolina in February. But the Gamecocks just couldn’t convert any shots of their own, shooting 21-for-61 overall (34.4%).

By the start of the fourth quarter, UConn freshman Sarah Strong and veteran guard Azzi Fudd had more points combined than South Carolina did as a team. Each finished with 24 points.

Sophomore guard Tessa Johnson and freshman forward finished Joyce Edwards with 10 points each but no other South Carolina players finished with more than nine.

“It’s not heartbreaking because you can see it happening in real time,” Staley said. “You can understand why you got beat. When you have that understanding, you figure out how to get better, you start thinking about in real time what we need if put in this situation again to be better and have a different outcome.”

UConn won its first national title since 2016, stopping Staley and South Carolina from winning its third in four years and second in a row.

Staley loses seniors Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, Sania Feagin and potentially Raven Johnson and Sakima Walker next season. She was asked what she wanted her team to take away from their first ever title game loss.

“I hope they’re crying,” Staley said. “I hope they’re boo-hooing because from crying they have emotion about losing, makes you work hard 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. They’re very talented and I think they got a great experience of playing at this level that I hope they have a desire to get back here and do all the things it takes to play in the national championship game and to deliver the blows that’s needed to win.”