"What the heck! That wasn't us": Dawn Staley recalls first reactions to defeat, reflects on "unfamiliar" feeling after South Carolina's loss to Texas

Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks saw their 17-game winning streak come to a disappointing end in Sunday's loss to the Texas Longhorns at Moody Center. She recalled her first reactions to the rare defeat in Wednesday's news conference ahead of the fourth-ranked Gamecocks' clash with the Florida Gators.

A reporter asked Staley what it's like for the team internally as they try to bounce back from the loss to Texas. The South Carolina coach admitted that the defeat affected the team.

"It shakes you a little bit cause it’s so unfamiliar," Staley said (Timestamp 3:21). "You think about where you need to improve and most times we’ve lost, it’s more like an anomaly. Like it’s ‘What the heck! That wasn’t us! That wasn’t our defense. That wasn’t our offense.’”

"More times than not, it was the opponent that did something to us and then some of it was self-inflicted as well. So we got to figure out what [the] self-inflicted [part] was, what the opponent forced us to do, what’s the anomaly of it, and try to fix it all at once."

Dawn Staley concluded her answer by saying that the Gamecocks just need to regain their confidence ahead of their game against Florida and focus on what worked for them before their loss to Texas.

Dawn Staley needs more production from Joyce Edwards in South Carolina's game vs. Florida

One player who needs to step up for Dawn Staley in South Carolina's game against Florida on Thursday night is Joyce Edwards. The Gamecocks' leading scorer has seen her numbers dip over the past two games, averaging just 7.5 points against Georgia and Texas.

Texas Longhorns center Kyla Oldacre (#00) swipes the ball away from South Carolina Gamecocks forward Joyce Edwards (#8) during the first half of their NCAA game at Moody Center. Photo: Imagn

Edwards scored six points in South Carolina's 74-42 win over Georgia on Thursday before dropping nine points in the Gamecocks' 66-62 loss to the Longhorns.

The freshman forward had scored in double figures in eight consecutive games before her offensive struggles began, averaging 15.9 points and 4.5 rebounds during that stretch.

It wasn't just Edwards who struggled offensively against Texas. All five starters failed to score in double figures against the Longhorns, who climbed to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press rankings. The Gamecocks dropped two spots to No. 4 following their loss.