Following UConn’s 82-59 win over the Gamecocks in the women’s national championship game – marking one of the largest margins of victory in a title game in NCAA history – Staley matter-of-factly said the Huskies ‘beat our ass.’
‘Our kids gave it all they had,’ Staley said Sunday after the defeat, which marked the program’s first championship loss in four appearances. ‘When you can understand why you lost and when you’ve been on the other side of that three times, you understand it. You can swallow it. We lost to a very, very good basketball team that beat our ass, but they didn’t make us like it. There’s a difference.’
Staley said her team simply ‘didn’t take care of the basketball.’ The Gamecocks had 11 turnovers and shot 34.4% from the field. ‘We took a couple of bad shots. We didn’t make layups, and they make you pay,’ Staley added.
Although the Gamecocks will lose an experienced senior class that helped transform the program into a dynasty, including Bree Hall, Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao, the Gamecocks’ roster also features talented underclassmen that Staley said will benefit from playing in a national championship game, even if they are on the losing side.
‘I hope they’re crying,’ Staley said of her underclassmen, including freshmen Joyce Edwards and sophomore MiLaysia Fulwiley. ‘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.’
She added: ‘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.’
Staley said she gave her outgoing seniors ‘their last flowers’ in the locker room and told them to ‘hang your head up high.’
‘There’s no other women’s college basketball student-athlete that has experienced what they’ve experienced, won as much as they’ve won — and that’s championships and that’s games,’ Staley said. ‘It was them that built this and it’s them that will go out again as the most winningest class – I’m going to venture to say in the country. So I’m proud of them.’
Staley is already looking ahead to next season. She said she’s ‘excited for what our team will look like next year.’
‘I do think they’ll be talented enough to get here, especially with getting in the transfer portal and getting some experienced pieces that can help with this young group,’ she said. ‘Younger players are just going to have to step up. They’ve got to have a great summer. They’ve got to have a great fall. We always are going to play a competitive schedule. So they’ll have opportunities to grow and play in a competitive schedule.’
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