MiLaysia Fulwiley Stats Today - How did South Carolina star fare vs Iowa State? (Nov 28)
MiLaysia Fulwiley bounced back from her first zero-point output of the season, helping the No. 4 South Carolina Gamecocks beat the No. 15 Iowa State Cyclones 76-36 in the Fort Myers Tip-off — Island Division at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Florida on Thursday.
Fulwiley, who failed to score a point in three minutes in the Gamecocks' last game against the UCLA Bruins, was effective off the bench, tallying eight points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 20 minutes of action.
The 5-foot-10 guard was inserted in the 6:23 mark of the first quarter and picked up her lone assist, passing the rock to Te-Hina Paopao, who knocked down a 3-pointer that handed the Gamecocks a 12-3 lead. Fulwiley would grab a defensive rebound off an Audi Crooks' miss but missed her only offensive attempt of the quarter.
The WJ Keenan product missed two more attempts from the 3-point line before making a layup that gave South Carolina a 27-3 lead with 5:41 left in the second period.
Fulwiley re-entered the game in the early part of the third frame and wouldn't buy another basket in the closing seconds. She buried a jumper and made the subsequent free throw, handing the Gamecocks a 53-27 edge.
She would close the game with a triple with 41 seconds remaining, giving South Carolina a 76-36 lead that turned out to be the final scoreline.
Here are MiLaysia Fulwiley's stats in South Carolina's win against Iowa State.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley trusts MiLaysia Fulwiley
Three-time national champion coach Dawn Staley addressed the situation between her and sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley. In an interview with The State's Lou Berjak, Staley noted that Fulwiley trusts her decision and that they're fine as a team.
“What’s important to me is the trust. She trusts me, I trust her and it is family trust. I don’t have a soundbite to give you other than we are all good. It is our process that we are going to continue to trust," the three-time champion coach said.
South Carolina lost for the first time in the 2024-25 women's college basketball season to UCLA 77-62, breaking its 43 straight victories dating back to last season.
Staley insisted that she wanted to see Fulwiley's name placed among the school's greats and treated the loss against UCLA as an aberration to the team's campaign this year. She also had a message to fans who wanted the guard to transfer schools to get more minutes on the court.
“It’s her process. Everybody has a process. And everybody wants to say transfer but we trust over here. That’s with everybody. MiLaysia and I are good. Other people ask about issues and what is going on here, but our house is tight,” Staley said.
In seven games, Fulwiley has averaged 10.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 17.0 minutes per game as she continues to be a constant factor off the bench for South Carolina.