"It's not easy": Dawn Staley makes her feelings known on Georgia Amoore, Kenny Brooks after South Carolina beats Kentucky

Dawn Staley's No. 6 Gamecocks (27-3, 15-1 SEC) defeated the No. 15 Kentucky 78-66 at the Colonial Life Arena on Sunday. South Carolina mounted an eight-point advantage at the break and never allowed the Wildcats to taste the lead.

However, compared to Staley's recent games against the UK (22-6, 11-5 SEC), Sunday was a bigger challenge. She talked about the Big Blue Nation's basketball caliber and praised coach Kenny Brooks' efforts to raise the school's level.

"He's got a really talented squad, they got chemistry, they work well together and they got a really good point guard (Georgia Amoore)," she said in the post-game conference (at 0:50).

Staley highlighted how Amoore has elevated Brooks' playbook and led Kentucky to a successful 22-6 season run.

"When you got a point guard that can distribute a basketball, that can create her own shot, that can knock down threes, that can read defenses - I mean she puts people in great positions to just have to make a basket. And when you have a leader like that, it's going to give you opportunities to win and win a lot of basketball games."

The 2023 NCAA championship coach asserted that Kenny Brooks has ultimately helped make the SEC a much more competitive environment.

Dawn Staley and Kentucky met twice last season. USC won both games with ease, mounting significant leads at halftime. The average score differential from both games was 55 points.

While South Carolina led the majority of Sunday's game, Kentucky showcased better chemistry, fluency and ability to score. They prevented the defending champs from controlling the momentum in the entire first quarter and again in the fourth.

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Georgia Amoore and Kenny Brooks might meet Dawn Staley's SC again

Kentucky earned the fourth seed to advance to the SEC tournament. Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks, who were tied with Texas with a 15-1 conference record, earned the first bid through a coin toss.

With that, both the Wildcats and South Carolina received two byes and will directly begin play in the quarterfinals. However, in case both teams win their first conference tournament games, the UK and USC will meet again in the semi-final round.