NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - NORFOLK STATE VS SOUTH CAROLINA

March 17, 2023

Dawn Staley

Sania Feagin

Bree Hall

Colonial Life Arena

South Carolina Gamecocks

Media Conference

South Carolina-72, Norfolk State-40

THE MODERATOR: South Carolina Gamecocks. We're joined by head coach dawn Staley, student-athletes Bree Hall and Sania Feagin. Coach, if you would please make an opening statement?

DAWN STALEY: I'm going to say it today so we can prep for next year. Norfolk State is not a 16 seed. Just want you to know that. They're not. Very well-coached. Very disciplined.

I mean, they play for 40 minutes. They run some great stuff. And, I mean, if it wasn't for the way we played defense, they would have probably given us a lot of troubles considering how we did not shoot the ball well outside of the first quarter.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes at this time.

Q. A big strength of this team is how ready did you all feel? When you got out there, did you think, okay, we have to step it up a notch?

BREE HALL: Coach always instills in us to be productive out there on the court coming off the bench. It's always like, oh, we're coming off the bench. No, that's not how we think. We go out there, and we think let's go out there and go hard and bring whatever we can to the table. That's it really.

SANIA FEAGIN: Yeah, just no matter when your number is called, be ready to go out there and do what you know how to do.

Q. Sania, you came out and hit a bunch of shots really quickly, had one of the best shooting percentages on the team. What did that feel like for you to do that on this stage? Also, what gave you the confidence to come in and shoot like that at this moment?

SANIA FEAGIN: Like I said, Coach always say, no matter when your number is called, be ready to go out there and do what you know how to do. I feel like I went out there and just did what I know how to do.

Q. Second time doing this. You were here last year. Where do you feel like you are now either mentally or physically compared to where you were at this time last year?

BREE HALL: Are you talking about personally or as a team?

Q. Personally.

BREE HALL: Well, personally I feel like going in this is my second year at this, and I feel like I have a little bit more experience. I feel like the focus is really there, and my mentality is just to really go out there and play with confidence. I feel like last year I kind of lacked the confidence part. This year I'm playing a lot more confident.

SANIA FEAGIN: I can agree with everything she said.

Q. Bree, what's this like being part of an undefeated team? Is it a lot of fun, or is it more pressure as things ramp up and you guys get closer to a title?

BREE HALL: There is some pressure, but it's also a lot of fun. As an undefeated team, we actually don't talk about it. We're not, like, oh, we have this long streak of wins. We just take each game game-by-game and just go out and play how we've always been playing. Yeah, that's really it.

Q. This is for Bree. Bree, last year after the Howard game someone asked you a question. Your response was: This is just what we do. This is kind of what we expect. This is how we do it. Is that the same mentality headed into this year as well or headed into the postseason?

BREE HALL: Yeah, I definitely say it's the same. I think we just go out there and do what we do best. That's what Coach always tells us.

THE MODERATOR: You all can go back to the locker room if you like. We'll take questions for Coach Staley at this time.

Q. Dawn, in the second quarter you turned a couple of turnovers into five points. You call a time-out. One was the message at that time? Two, I don't think that you're much a fan of calling those in the middle of runs, but why did you feel it necessary to go and do that?

DAWN STALEY: I just thought we were just -- I mean, we made some pretty good plays just natural in the flow, and I thought we just tried to force things that weren't there or just tried to make a spectacular play rather than just simplifying. It happened more than once, and I just felt like it was time to just let our players know that, I mean, we don't want to give people opportunities.

I mean, at halftime they had seven points off our turnovers and seven points points off -- seven second chance points. They had 18 points total. And then two of the four points that they had were just -- they stepped through us. We had a pretty good defensive stop.

I mean, our defense was doing its job. Our offense was killing us and our inability to control the boards in the first half. I mean, those are things that we are really good at and disciplined, and we weren't that at that time.

Q. Ashlyn and Sania both played significant minutes tonight. What did you see from the two of them that you liked that you wanted to keep going?

DAWN STALEY: I mean, they've been practicing well, and I just tried to get them in the game with some of our older players just to give them some experience because we don't know what our seniors are going to do.

They all could leave, and I would like for some of our young post players to really get some experience playing in big games and having them be counted on and give them some experience to understand that it's going to take more than what they did today for us to be successful next year.

Q. Some of the players in the locker room are saying they felt like rust was an issue, especially in the first half. Did you notice rust, and how do you go about trying to knock that off in the middle of a game?

DAWN STALEY: I mean, we weren't rusty when we practiced. We were probably game rusty, but I think Norfolk State had a lot to do with it. They challenged us. They forced us to play a certain way and to maintain a certain level of discipline. If we didn't, you know, they made us pay for it.

I think we won the game with our talent. I do think we won the game with our talent. Then we had at the free-throw line we weren't great, but we forced them to have to play us and our length. So obviously moving forward we can't rely on that because you have a South Florida team that's going to fight and do what they need to do to get a win.

Q. Dawn, what do you think has to happen in order to get that engaged? Is it just a good practice tomorrow, good strong practice tomorrow, get everybody focused again for Sunday?

DAWN STALEY: I mean, yeah. They're focused, but sometimes they lose focus in the thrill of wanting to hear the crowd cheer loudly. I mean, I think that's enough.

I mean, the time-out is uncharacteristic of me. So I think it was uncharacteristic of them. So I think we both got the point. And we'll practice tomorrow to get ready for South Florida, and hopefully we'll have a better outing from the free-throw line, from just us having a 40-minute commitment to what we need to do on offense. I know our defense will show up because that's what we do. And then, you know, let the chips fall where they may.

Q. Dawn, you said with Sania has been practicing well. The third quarter she had kind of that six-point kind of burst. What have you kind of noticed I guess about her progression to this point of the season and just kind of what did you like about the minutes that she played today?

DAWN STALEY: I mean, Feagin can score. No doubt about it. She's very, very talented offensively, but if you were on our side and heard her father, her father said, Play some defense. Yep. And I looked back at him and I said, You're absolutely right.

That is the thing that is the hardest learning curve for her, but she's getting -- she really understands. She really understands. I think she just needs, you know, more -- a better commitment to it.

She's just young. If she would have had the year that she's having this year last year, she would probably be much better off, but she's got to go through it. You've got to go through it. The year in which she made a commitment to work a little bit harder and change her body and to see herself as being dominant, domination is a process. It's a process that we've journeyed with Aliyah, and it's sort of the same thing.

Q. I wanted to follow up on USC. I know you had some assistants scouting. How aware are you of the program, the coach, and what do you expect from them on Sunday?

DAWN STALEY: Just well-coached. Spreads you out. Hard-cutting. They occupy the defense on both sides of the basketball, but mainly, you know, the weak side of the floor always has you occupied. So it lends opportunities for them to drive on you, for you them to space you out and shoot threes.

Just well-coached. Offense is what they do fairly well, and then they're stingy defensively. They play sort of like a pack line, sagging.

And then scouting report, defense, if you can shoot the ball, they're going to guard you. If you can't, they're not going to guard you.

I mean, we have to approach it pretty much the same way. Like, we've got to get our bigs involved. That is our advantage, and then our depth has to play a role in it.

Q. Coach, you guys win this one by 42 points, but in that first half the inconsistencies, the fans start freaking out. What does that say about the level of expectations you guys have set here, and what is that standard?

DAWN STALEY: I mean, our fans want us to play well every second that we're on the floor. We understand that and we try to live up for that. We really do.

But they ebb and flow. They go on an emotional roller coaster with us and our play, and I wouldn't want them to be any other way. I don't want them to be bored with winning. I don't want them to accept us playing uncharacteristically bad. I want them to be right there with us because that's what is happening. We had to turn it around. We had to create some good plays for us to get involved in the game because that's what they're used to.