Dawn Staley wants Joyce Edwards to "sit in her sadness", says Gamecocks freshman got the silent treatment after UConn loss: "We'll talk about it"

Dawn Staley was joined by freshman Joyce Edwards in the postgame press conference after South Carolina's loss to UConn in the national championship game. Their dream of winning back-to-back championships was crushed on Sunday when they fell to UConn 82-59 in the title game.

A reporter asked Staley if she had spoken to Edwards in the aftermath of the loss or given her any specific words of encouragement.

"No, I let her sit in her sadness," Staley replied (at 23:51). "Sometimes letting them sit in their sadness is much more powerful than breaking that train of thought. But we'll talk about it, and she'll express how she feels and what she needs to work on in order for her to get us back to this place."

Another reporter followed up by asking if this was always her philosophy as a coach, to let players sit with their emotions during tough moments, and if it was something she did personally as well.

Dawn Staley said that she does not always handle things this way, and that it depends on the player.

"I mean, Joyce is a pretty tough cookie, so breaking her thought process in that moment, for me, I thought it would be less helpful," the coach said (at 29:05). "You treat each player differently in how they handle success and failure. So it is a player-by-player situation."

Dawn Staley's South Carolina suffers rare double defeat for first time in six years

Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks were on the receiving end of a rare double defeat on Sunday. Not only did their team lose the national championship game to UConn, but Staley also suffered her first loss in a title game.

This defeat was the first time in six years that Staley and the Gamecocks suffered two losses against the same opponent in a single season.

In the title game, they suffered another blowout loss, falling to UConn 82-59.

The last time Staley suffered two defeats against the same school was in 2018-19, when her team lost twice to Baylor. Again, in similar blowout fashion on both occasions — 94-69 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and 93-68 in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

After an undefeated 38-0 season, the Gamecocks faced a tougher road this campaign, losing three games to UCLA, Texas and UConn in the regular season. However, they did win both the SEC regular season and tournament titles.