“We played uncharacteristically bad”: When Dawn Staley looked down upon South Carolina’s one loss she remembers the most
Dawn Staley has led the South Carolina Gamecocks to unprecedented success, winning three national championship titles. However, when the legendary coach reflects on her storied career, there is one loss that still stings.
In March 2023, Staley sat with Taylor Rooks on her popular Bleacher Report show "Taylor Rooks X." The host asked Staley about the toughest loss in her coaching tenure at South Carolina.
"The one loss I’m referring to is the most recent one because people have been asking our senior class about it," Staley said (14:16). "We only lost one game in our entire four-year career at home, and it was against NC State. It was on national television, and we played uncharacteristically bad."
"Now, when people ask about that loss, that feeling still comes back, even though we won the rest of the games. I think we were 60-1 in our building, but that’s the one loss that stands out as the most current one."
Dawn Staley's team had not lost a home game at Colonial Life Arena since March 2019, when Mississippi State topped them 64-68. They went the entire 2019-20 season undefeated at home until the NC State Wolfpack came to Columbia and handed the Gamecocks a 46-54 defeat on Dec. 3, 2020, in the Jimmy V Classic.
South Carolina has not suffered a defeat at home since then — a stretch of over 60 wins in four seasons.
Dawn Staley talked about her biggest win with South Carolina
Dawn Staley also reflected on her biggest win with the Gamecocks, which surprisingly isn't one of South Carolina's national championship victories. Instead, she highlighted a 2020 triumph over Geno Auriemma's UConn as the standout moment.
"The win I would say probably beating UConn for the first time here in our building in 2020. Because so many other monumental wins came after that, so it kind of opened the door for us being able to just shake that off of them," Staley said (15:22).
The Gamecocks were 22-1 heading into a highly-anticipated matchup against the Huskies on Feb. 10, 2020 at Colonial Life Arena. Meanwhile, UConn had only lost twice — to Oregon and Baylor. South Carolina secured a 70-52 victory, led by senior guard Tyasha Harris' impressive double-double performance of 19 points and 11 assists.
Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks went on to capture the SEC regular season title and the SEC Tournament championship that season. Unfortunately, the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.