COLUMBIA, SC – South Carolina coach Dawn Staley vigorously defended her top ranking Fighting-cock on Tuesday after critical comments by UConn coach Geno Auriemma two days earlier.
Auriemma said after Gamecocks 81-77 win that Huskies defend/move on Lou López Senechal There are bruises on the body from the game.
“It’s horrible what the teams do to her now,” he said. “It’s not basketball anymore. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not basketball.”
Staley hit back Tuesday on her radio callout, saying that when her team succeeds, “we’re called something different from the locked-in players.”
“They play the right way,” she continued, “and approach it the right way whether they win or lose. We don’t denounce anyone’s play. They always uplift the spirit of women’s basketball, and when we were defeated at UConn for all these years, I said nothing.”
South Carolina’s win on Sunday was the fourth of five previous encounters between the schools, including last April’s national championship game.
Staley’s South Carolina teams were 0-7 ahead of UConn ahead of their recent successful streak.
“We’ve been called so many things and I’m sick of it,” Staley said. “I’m sick of it because I coach some of the best the game has ever had.”
South Carolina (23-0, 10-0) visited Auburn on Thursday night.
