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Dawn Staley Had Classy Message for UConn After Getting Blown Out in NCAA Title Game

UConn defeated South Carolina by a wide margin to win the national championship.

Eva Geitheim

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley reacts during the first half of the national championship of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament against the Connecticut Huskies.
South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley reacts during the first half of the national championship of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament against the Connecticut Huskies. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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The South Carolina Gamecocks will not repeat as back-to-back NCAA women's national champions after falling 82-59 to UConn on Sunday. Not only did South Carolina lose in the NCAA championship game for the first time, but they got blown out by UConn, losing by over 20 points.

Over the past two years heading into this season, South Carolina was easily the most dominant team in women's college basketball. They went 74-1 over that span, and did not lose a single game during the 2023-24 season on their way to winning a third national championship for the program.

South Carolina came slightly back to earth this season, losing four games and finishing as the runner-ups to UConn. South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was clearly unhappy watching her team fall flat to UConn, but she made sure to give the Huskies credit for their performance after the game.

"I must say, much respect to UConn, they did a masterful job in executing on both sides of the basketball," Staley said.

"They flat out beat us," Staley told reporters. "We tried to throw a lot at them, and they rose about it all. That's what happens when you have super talented players. We've been on the other side of it, so we get it."

Though Staley and her Gamecocks previously defeated UConn in 2022, Staley said that the Huskies have "been the standard." With Sunday's title win, UConn now has 12 women's basketball national championships, a record for any men's or women's college basketball program.

"UConn's been the standard," Staley said. "Any time you can get any wins you are breaking into moving ahead in the game. ... They had the better team this year. You don't always win when you have the better team, but they did this year, and that's what you're supposed to do."

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.

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