$12 million worth Dawn Staley commends Kim Mulkey for leading LSU after Angel Reese’s departure

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley and her players will have the daunting task of facing their conference rivals, the LSU Tigers, on Friday. This will be the first time they'll be matching up against the Kim Mulkey-mentored squad after defeating them in last year's SEC Championship game, 79-72.

Staley, whose net worth is $12 million according to Celebrity Net Worth, and her team would go on to win the national title, their second in three years. As they aspire for a potential national championship repeat this year, their meeting against the Tigers will be their toughest challenge yet to their undefeated 6-0 conference record, 18-1 overall with a sole loss to the top-ranked UCLA Bruins.

During her media availability for Friday's fixture, Staley commended her LSU counterpart for leading her squad to an undefeated 20-0 overall standing despite the departure of Chicago Sky standout Angel Reese who was one of the focal points of Mulkey last season.

"I think Kim does a great job at she loses a player to graduation or WNBA, insert another player and she plays her same style which has been very good and successful for her," Staley said. "For us, we got to do the same thing. The things that we've built our success on has to be on display tomorrow night." (1:32)

Staley leads the head-to-head record, 5-2, dating back to Mulkey's days of being at the helm of the Baylor Bears coaching staff.

Mulkey's standout product in Reese is teammates with former Gamecocks stalwart under the tutelage of Staley, Kamilla Cardoso, in the WNBA — which is in contrast to when the two frontcourt players battled in multiple occasions in college.

Dawn Staley details how her team has adjusted to the conference rival game being postponed

The newest chapter in the South Carolina Gamecocks and LSU Tigers rivalry was supposed to be written on Thursday. However, due to continuous snowstorms in Louisiana, which have prevented the away team from traveling to the Colonial Life Arena, the game was rescheduled to Friday.

When asked about how her team has adjusted to the extra day of preparations and anticipation, Dawn Staley shared that they're not used to it but welcomed the one-of-a-kind occurrence with open arms.

"It's a little bit harder a day later," she said. "You get yourself amped up and then, the game is pushed back. (You) get an extra day of prep time, something that is kind of weird too because we're just not used to having three days. So, we just had a shorter day to make sure that we got everything and keeping our game timing right." (2:03)

Barring any other out-of-control interruptions, the hyped-up conference matchup is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m. ET on Friday.