“My Ray Ray”: Dawn Staley showers praise on South Carolina’s Raven Johnson’s all-denim look on IG

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley dropped a beautiful comment in Raven Johnson’s Instagram comment section after the latter shared a stunning picture of herself in denim. The Gamecocks guard has been an important team member for South Carolina this season and is one of Staley’s most trusted hands, helping them win the SEC Tournament final against the Texas Longhorns on March 9.

Fresh off the win over the Longhorns in the SEC Tournament final, some of the South Carolina stars have been sharing some beautiful pictures of themselves after Staley gave them four days off.

Her coach Staley commented on the post, “Oooooh beautiful one! That’s my Ray Ray”.

Dawn Staley showers praise on South Carolina’s Raven Johnson’s all-denim look (Image by Instagram/@hollywood_raven)

Chicago Sky star Kamilia Cardoso, who is also best friends with Johnson as they played basketball together for multiple years, at AAU, Syracuse and later, at South Carolina, also reacted to that post with three love emojis.

Kamilia Cardoso also commented on South Carolina’s Raven Johnson’s all-denim look (Image by Instagram/@hollywood_raven)

Johnson’s post has since gathered almost 16,000 likes and 192 comments, mostly from fans admiring the pictures.

The party will soon be over for Johnson though, with March madness already here. The NCAA Tournament begins with Selection Sunday set for March 16 when the 68-team fields for the men's and women's NCAA DI basketball tournaments will be announced.

Coach Staley hopes that Johnson continues to perform well for the Gamecocks and help them win the NCAA Tournament.

Raven Johnson’s impressive comeback at South Carolina

Raven Johnson has had an impressive comeback story at South Carolina. A member of the 2021 recruiting class alongside Bree Hall and Sania Feagin, Johnson suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament or ACL in November of her freshman year. She was granted a redshirt year, allowing her to sit out a season while preserving her eligibility for the following year.

So technically, Johnson has been with South Carolina, and this gives her the option to return next year. The season she returned to action, Raven averaged 4.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

The following season, her numbers increased significantly to 8.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. And this season, she has done 4.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.