Dawn Staley previews Alabama game
The No.4 South Carolina Gamecocks (13-1) hit the road to take on Alabama (10-4) with a bit of momentum on their side after beating No. 13 Kentucky by 27 points Thursday.
USC head coach Dawn Staley said her young players rose to the occasion during their first SEC game and she wanted to make sure they took time to reflect on that.
“What stood out is that we executed,” Staley told media Friday after practice. “Sometimes we tend to really hone in on what we didn’t do well so you gotta balance that. They did well, they watched it, they felt good about it. We talked about what makes this team good.”
She went on to say the team chemistry and overall attitude are some of the biggest factors to their early success despite being so young.
“The reasons why this team is so good is because they’re selfless, they’re happy for each other. They want each other to do well. And then we’ve got great leadership.”
They head to Tuscaloosa to face an Alabama team that Staley said does a lot of things well.
“I think they’re much improved. They’re more efficient,” she said. “They’re healthy. They have a point guard that pushes the ball and reads defenses. They shoot a lot of threes, but they get to the basket. They’ve got bigs that keep you honest. They may not get the ball a whole lot, but they keep the defense occupied. They’ve got a four, [Jasmine] Walker that can space you out and score a lot of different ways. They do a lot of things to keep you off balance.”
They key, according to Staley, is for the Gamecocks to remain true to themselves.
“I think we’ve just got to do the things we’ve done thus far, to sneak up and get a road win,” she said.
Tip-off for the contest will be Sunday at 6 p.m.