South Carolina HC Dawn Staley reprimanded team for their performance against Texas A&M in SEC tournament: "We need to get it together"

College basketball fans have seen the fun side of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley since she led the Gamecocks to an unbeaten, national championship-winning campaign. The Gamecocks coach has a competitive and intense side as well.

In South Carolina's newly released documentary, "Love The Game," fans get to see another side of the usually laidback Gamecocks coach. She was fiery and reprimanded her players in the dressing room after a scrappy 79-68 win against the Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

"Ain't none of y'all bigger than the game, none of y'all. None of us is bigger than the game. Let's not talk like it, let's not act like it. The reason why we got here, the way that we got here, is because of everybody in this room. But we will not, understand me, we will not win it, we will not get to the semifinal playing like that, just so you know, we won't," Staley said.

"Our D wasn't good enough, our O wasn't good enough, just wasn't. We won on mere talent. Things went our way at certain times, we need to get it together seriously."

The South Carolina Gamecocks had another close encounter in their next game against the Tennessee Volunteers, winning 74-73 with a buzzer-beater three-pointer from center Kamilla Cardoso.

The Gamecocks corrected the errors pointed out by Dawn Staley in the final against the LSU Tigers in a fiery game they won 79-72 to clinch the SEC tournament.

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Dawn Staley pivots to win national championship

Charismatic South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has confessed that she almost considered retirement last season when she had to rebuild her roster from scratch after she lost most of her players to the WNBA.

The Gamecocks were not fancied to be as competitive last season as the previous campaign. During an interview with SLAM, Staley revealed how she pivoted her approach as a coach to cater to her current players.

"We’re in an era where we have to pivot. What worked 24 years ago will not work today. I’ll say this: The core principles of who I am as a person and coach doesn’t change. (The) battles I fight? They change. Take for instance this year—my approach was entirely different than my approach in just the recent years. In recent years, we had a group of players that got it," Dawn Staley said.

"They understood the assignment and what they needed to do and they executed on and off the court, so they gave us no issues. I was just able to be a basketball coach."

The pivot by coach Dawn Staley worked a treat, as she led the Gamecocks to a perfect season, winning the national championship on a canter.