Dawn Staley refuses to sugarcoat South Carolina's blowout loss to UConn as Gamecocks HC gives key takeaways

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was very forthright about her team's blowout loss to UConn on Sunday. The No. 4 Gamecocks were on the receiving end of an 87-58 defeat to the No. 7 Huskies at home.

In her postgame press conference, Staley talked about the team's mindset following the loss and finding the right balance in how she challenges players without letting the effects of the defeat linger too long.

"They know," Staley said (5:13). "They’re feeling as lowly as I am, as lowly as our coaching staff. They know. We let them talk about what took place, and they said all the right things. It wasn’t sugarcoating — we definitely have to get better. And we will."

So many things went wrong for Dawn Staley's team in this game, from poor shooting to struggles with rebounding and defense. They shot just 37.7% from the field, made only three 3-pointers compared to UConn's 13, and were outrebounded 48-29

"Transition, imbalance, bad shots will produce points for a UConn team. They just don’t allow you to get back in it to set your defense up," Staley said (0:16). "By the time you think about it, their three is going up and through the net."

Is the UConn loss Dawn Staley's biggest home defeat?

Ever since Dawn Staley took over as South Carolina's coach in 2008, the Gamecocks have been a fortress at home.

They have proven extremely tough to beat inside Colonial Life Arena and were riding a 71-game home winning streak heading into Sunday's matchup with UConn.

Unfortunately for South Carolina, that remarkable home dominance came to a crashing halt as they were thoroughly outclassed by Geno Auriemma's Huskies. However, the 29-point loss on Sunday was close but not the worst home defeat of Staley's tenure.

Back on Dec. 19, 2008, during Staley's first season with the Gamecocks, they fell to Stanford 78-47 at Colonial Life Arena, a 31-point defeat that stands as the largest home loss of her 17-year reign.

The same season, South Carolina was humiliated at home by UConn 77-48, just 10 days after the Stanford loss. So the latest defeat to the Huskies tied for the second-largest home setback.

Meanwhile, the largest blowout overall for the Gamecocks under Dawn Staley came on Nov. 26, 2010, when they lost 70-32 to Stanford at Maples Pavilion — a 38-point drubbing.

South Carolina (23-3, 11-1 SEC) will look to bounce back as they host league bottom-dweller Arkansas (9-18, 2-10) on Thursday.