“We are fortunate”: Dawn Staley reviews South Carolina’s win over Texas as Madison Booker has an “off night”

On Sunday, coach Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks won their fourth straight SEC game in a dominant fashion. They outmatched the AP fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns by 17 points, 67-50, by way of their stifling defense to stay undefeated early on in conference play.

One of the Longhorns' brightest spots for the season is sophomore guard Madison Booker, who averages a team-high 15.3 points to go along with 5.9 rebounds. 3.0 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Unfortunately for Texas, she was shut down by the Dawn Staley-coached squad on Jan. 12 — going for just seven points on an abysmal 3-of-19 shooting, seven boards, and two swipes.

During the post-game press conference, Staley detailed the Gamecocks' successful gameplan for the matchup and how they were able to successfully execute it to lock down Booker and company en route to win No. 16 overall.

"I think she just had a really off night. I think part of that was us, the other part was just she was missing chippy. She was missing mid-range shots. She's a 50% shooter. Part of that was the luck of the CLA's (Colonial Life Arena) lid being put on the rim for her," she explained. (Timestamp: 0:30)

"But, we're fortunate. We took care of home because we got to go there and play. It's probably another tough game," Staley later added.

It seems as though the defending national champion coach had instilled respect in her players for Booker and the standout abilities she has shown throughout the 2024-2025 campaign. Coupling this with South Carolina playing on their homefloor, the defense displayed by the Gamecocks halted Texas any chance to get a groove as they merely shot 20.0% from three and just 27.8% total.

Games like these show why South Carolina is fueling themselves for another shot at the national title come March. They sit atop the SEC standings right now, and if they can keep their play up, there's no team that can stop them in the coming weeks.

Staley and the rest of the Gamecocks return to action on Thursday, Jan. 16, when they visit the AP No. 18-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on their homefloor.

Apart from defense, Dawn Staley asserts the importance of good shots

South Carolina's win over a top-ranked opponent is a mixture of the defense they played and the team taking and making good shots at a high rate, according to Staley. During the presser, she stressed the importance of attempting such shots as bad ones could lead to their downfall.

"It's all about taking good shots. You can have a night as far as having as many turnovers as we had with taking good shots. You lose games taking bad shots. We're finally getting to that point where we're taking better shots and we're taking rhythm shots. It's paying of for us, especially in a game like this," Staley shared. (1:05)

As a whole, Staley's team was 51.0% total and 42.9% from the three-point territory in the triumph over the Longhorns. Junior stalwart Chloe Kitts and fifth-year guard Te-Hina Paopao both had 11 points apiece to lead the squad while freshman Joyce Edwards pitched in 10 markers off the bench.