"They beat our a** but they didn't make us like it": Dawn Staley gets candid on first championship game loss experience vs Geno Auriemma's UConn

South Carolina Gamecocks Dawn Staley is dealing with her first-ever loss on the NCAA championship game stage. On Sunday, April 6, the defending champions were defeated by an astounding 23 points, 82-59, by the UConn Huskies in this year's national tournament winner-take-all fixture.

During the press conference, Staley was asked how it feels to be on the losing end of a national tournament, given that this was their second go in the winner-take-all match against the UConn Huskies. This was the 54-year-old's first loss in four national title game trips, now holding a 3-1 record.

"I mean, you know our kids gave it all they had, and when you can understand why you lost, and when you've been on the other side of that three times, you understand it. You can swallow it. We lost to a very, very good basketball team that, you know, they beat our *ss but they didn't make us like it. There's a difference," Staley admitted. (20:30)

South Carolina rounds out their year having won the 2025 SEC regular season championship and conference tournament title, finishing with an overall record of 35-4 and 15-1 during conference play.

Dawn Staley calls on her young cogs to overcome the loss next season

Later in the presser, Dawn Staley was asked about the experience of her young standouts, such as Joyce Edwards, along with the examples of veterans like Te-Hina Paopao. Staley is calling on her budding talent to reach greater heights and beyond, especially after the finals loss they just suffered.

"I mean if I'm them, they have an example of how it's done on a daily basis. And if they aren't bringing it like they brought it on a daily basis, we're probably not going to end up here anymore, which I doubt. So, I mean it is next woman up. We lead. We lose a large senior class with a lot of experience. Although our team will look different, what will be similar is," Dawn Staley said. (21:15)

"The way we approach things, the way we work, the way we prep each and every season and they still are experienced. They still have Final Four experience, national championship experience under their belt so, hopefully they can, in their own way, top with this class that's leaving out. They have an opportunity to top what's happened over the past couple of years," she added.

Despite not accomplishing their goal of a national title repeat, which would have been their first in program history and been the fourth program to ever do so, Dawn Staley and the rest of the South Carolina Gamecocks will seek a return to the college basketball mountaintop in the 2025-2026 season.