The defending champions suffered a significant setback in their last game against the UCLA Bruins, where they lost, ending their 43-game winning streak. As a result, the South Carolina Gamecocks needed to bounce back when they faced Iowa State last night. And, they did so emphatically, securing a dominant 40-point victory that seemed to fulfill one of head coach Dawn Staley’s key expectations for her team.

The Gamecocks triumphed with a 76-36 victory, and shortly after, head coach Dawn Staley addressed the media in the post-game press conference. Staley shared her thoughts on the game, stating, “We just needed to put a complete game together. Obviously there were some lapses in the UCLA game that they weren’t characteristic of us, so we wanted to make sure that we play very very similarly with our rotations and how we will guard.”

The 3x champions began the game with the same starting five as their previous match, but a more effective rotation that gave bench players additional minutes.

MiLaysia Fulwiles, who played only three minutes and scored no points in the last game, logged 23 minutes against Iowa and contributed 8 points. Overall, South Carolina’s bench accounted for 38 points, making up exactly half of their total score.

Staley emphasized how the team focused on playing a more cohesive game, aiming to perform well on both the defensive and offensive ends. She said. “You know all of these things that we executed from our 2 days of preparation and then just from an officer standpoint, if we can put together 40 minutes of what we did defensively, offensively in the same game, I think we’d be feeling really good about ourselves and we were consistent with it. So that is our nemesis to be able to to log in on both sides of the ball.”

Chloe Kitts and her teammates grabbed a total of 46 rebounds, with 33 defensive and 13 offensive. They also improved steals to 13 and converted 19 of Iowa’s turnovers to 30 points. Since Staley was pleased with the team’s overall performance, it might have fulfilled one of her demand she put forward earlier this month.

Dawn Staley’s call for improvement might have been fulfilled

Earlier this month, when South Carolina faced East Carolina, the Gamecocks secured the win, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy head coach Dawn Staley. Despite the victory, Staley made it clear that she expected more from her team, calling out each player by name and emphasizing that they needed to elevate their game. It was a moment that set the tone for what would come next—Staley’s demand for better execution, on both ends of the floor.

“I mean, we’re talented, there’s no doubt about it. We’re talented is — how we figure out what you know, what group works well together and we’re just, we’re struggling with it. We’re not playing bad but we’re struggling with combinations. So we’ll just continue to try to find it on any given day. It could move from game to game……But we certainly (need) more,” Staley had said.

After the Gamecocks secured an impressive victory, with both the starting five and bench players contributing equally, it’s safe to say head coach Dawn Staley had every reason to feel satisfied. The balanced performance, with key contributions from both the starters and the bench, was exactly what she had been looking for—a complete team effort that checked all the boxes. It would be interesting to see if the team can be consistent with this performance when they face Purdue on November 30, Saturday!