Everything Dawn Staley said about win over Providence, Ta’Niya Latson injury

South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley spoke to local media following the Gamecocks’ final nonconference game against Providence, 96-55.

South Carolina opens conference play on New Year’s Day against Alabama.

Here is everything Staley said after defeating Providence.

Don’t know if you know, but update Ta’Niya Latson?

“No. No, she’s smiling.”

Well, she’s still here after the game?

“Yeah, she was here. She got treatment in the second half. Just walked out, think we’re gonna look at it tomorrow.”

What did you think of Agot Makeer’s return to play?

“I thought it was good. I thought she was a little rusty in the first half, but I think with the extended minutes, I thought she looked good. Like, she played the entire third quarter, and hopefully, she could continue to just stack days and connect days where she could help us. She’s gonna have to help us depending on what we hear tomorrow, with Ta’Niya, how long she’ll be out.”

Agot mentioned she spent a lot of time talking to Chloe Kitts on the bench over the past five games that she missed. What have you seen from Chloe, and how her perspective of the game is developing differently now that she’s having to see the game from the sidelines?

“Chloe’s matured so much over the years. I think, bottom line, she wants to win, and she wants to put our team in the best possible position to win, and that is giving conversations where they’re needed. Like, and a lot of times it’s great coming when the information is coming from their peers. It’s probably something similar to what we’re saying as coaches. It’s just, you know, it’s taken a little bit differently when it’s their peers. So, I mean, however we need to do it, however, our players need to get better. Whoever’s voice they need to hear. I think it’s great, but it’s all coming from a place in which we want people to excel.”

Just talk a little bit about the excitement with Alicia Tournebize joining you guys from France, and when is she expected to play?

“Just super excited, I think we got a gen of a player. She is 6’7″, she is 6’7″. Athletic. And I mean, she’s 18 years old, you know, she’s definitely glad to get in the weight room to see Molly [Binetti]. But we don’t know when she’s going to get here. I think she has appointments, documentation that she needs in order to get here, but hopefully be before school starts.”

Especially in the first half. What did you see from your defense?

“I mean, we were a little undisciplined, and then, sometimes, when we face teams like that, we get their very best. And when you get someone’s very best, you just have to ride the wave, I mean, I thought we were scoring at a good clip. Moving the ball. And I think it was really, Ta’Niya was playing extremely well. Joyce [Edwards] was probably passing a lot more than she used to, and I thought she felt the double teams coming at her, and she felt the attention. And then she didn’t press. So I thought that was good, and then from the defensive standpoint, just a little undisciplined, reaching, getting out of place, and couldn’t quite get our rotations right. I think in the second half, we just tried to control the pain a little bit. We were outscored in the paint, I think 22 to 16, and that’s something that it’s eye-opening. I think we gave up 6 points in the paint in the second half, and then we didn’t do our normal in the paint. but we did enough to open the game up.”

You got to welcome Valerie Nainima back today. One of your original Gamecocks, so to speak, can you just talk about what it means to see her path and her growth in coaching?

“I mean, it is I see Vi on the road, and we text message. I’m glad she chose Coaching because she loves basketball. She was a heck of a player, and she came to us when it wasn’t a popular thing to do. So she saw, she believed in us before a lot of people believed in what we could do here. And we don’t want to forget those players who bet on us when we weren’t winning as many games as we’re winning now. But it’s great to see how the culture, it’s great to see her part of the knowledge that she was given and played at the highest level. I think it comes from a place where she only wants them to get better. And super glad I got a chance to coach her, super glad that she’s part of my coaching tree.”