“They got depth, talent, confidence”: Dawn Staley speaks highly of Duke ahead of enticing matchup with South Carolina

As her third-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks prepared to host the Duke Blue Devils, Dawn Staley praised the Thursday night's opposition. Talking to the media, Staley outlined the roster qualities that the Blue Devils have capitalized on to become the No. 8 team in the country.

Staley highlighted Duke's bench, dependable role players, ability to get high-quality shots, preparation and more.

"They play for 40 minutes, they're very calculating in who they want the shots to come from," Staley said. "They got great go-to players, they got great role players, they got they got depth, they got talent, they got confidence. And they played a pretty good schedule to be tested."

Like the Gamecocks (7-1), the Blue Devils (8-1) will enter Thursday's game with an early upset on their season. Kara Lawson's squad suffered an 85-80 loss to Maryland in its third contest. Dawn Staley faced her first loss since 2023 against the UCLA Bruins on Nov. 24.

However, both teams have bounced back since the losses. Duke has won six consecutive contests, two of which came against top 10 programs (the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners). The Gamecocks are on a two-game win streak, convincingly defeating the then-No. 15 Iowa State Cyclones 76-36 and the Purdue Boilermakers 99-51 at a neutral venue.

Dawn Staley outlines her roster's mindset before the Duke game

Out of South Carolina's eight contests, only two have been at home. The Gamecocks will play Duke after back-to-back neutral site games. They will then head to Texas to face Hailey Van Lith and the No. 9 TCU Horned Frogs in the Dickies Arena on Sunday.

However, Staley believes that her squad is prepared for the tough schedule and is focused on Thursday's matchup.

"I do think they feel all right," Staley said (Timestamp: 1:40). "I think they know the severity of what we have this week.

"Starting tomorrow, we're going to be challenged, and I like it. I like the fact that there can't (be) any let-ups. I like the fact that it's a focused opponent where we got to out-execute them. We got to be better than them tomorrow night between 9 and 11."

Dawn Staley has faced the Blue Devils seven times, with the Gamecocks leading the series 6-1. Duke's last win against South Carolina came in the 2016-17 season.