Women's Fastbreak On SI

Dawn Staley Zeroes In on What Caitlin Clark Doesn't Do Well

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley got candid about Caitlin Clark's lone shortcoming on the basketball court.
Grant Young|
University of South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley answers a question by moderator Dan Hughes during the University of Mount Union's Schooler Lecture speaker series on April 23, 2025, in Alliance, Ohio.
University of South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley answers a question by moderator Dan Hughes during the University of Mount Union's Schooler Lecture speaker series on April 23, 2025, in Alliance, Ohio. | Kevin Whitlock / Massillon Independent / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team's legendary head coach Dawn Staley has succeeded with just about everything she has done during her NCAA head coaching career, one thing she failed at was containing Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, back when Clark was still with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

To be fair, Staley's South Carolina team did beat Iowa in the 2024 NCAA national championship game. But Clark finished that game with 30 points (including five made three-pointers), 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. One year prior, Clark's Hawkeyes beat the Gamecocks in the Final Four of the 2023 tournament. Clark had 41 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds in that contest.

So while Clark averaging 35.5 points per game during her two times facing Staley can't be called a success for the latter, Clark did have a total of 12 turnovers in those two contests.

And Staley spoke to these turnovers during a June 19 episode of the Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce podcast.

"You want to highlight Caitlin Clark for what she does well. But if you are her opponent, you want to zero in on the things that she doesn't do well, right?" Staley said.

"Like, you know, she's a risk-taker when it comes to passing the ball. So she'll turn the ball over some. And that's a great thing if you're her opposition and her opponent."

To be clear, Staley offered Clark a ton of praise during the podcast and asserted that she's so great that it's essentially impossible to slow her down, regardless of the turnovers. But it's still interesting to hear Staley share this sentiment.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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