South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley Lauds 'On Point' MiLaysia Fulwiley, Ashlyn Watkins
The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team has responded to their 77-62 defeat to the UCLA Bruins on November 24 by rattling off four consecutive wins, the most recent being a dominant performance against the TCU Horned Frogs on December 8.
Given how deep and talented the Gamecocks roster is, head coach Dawn Staley demands a lot from the players she allocates playing time to.
And it seems that she's quite happy with how two players have responded to her high expectations.
Staley spoke with the media after Friday's Gamecocks practice, ahead of their game against USF on Sunday. At one point, she said, "[MiLaysia Fulwiley] is playing so much better, Ashlyn [Watkins] is playing [better]. They make us a different basketball team when they're as engaged as they were against TCU," per Matt Dowell.
Fulwiley had 20 points on 8 of 15 from the field in 21 minutes played against TCU, while Watkins added 6 points — and a dunk — in the big win.
"They know what they mean to our basketball team," Staley continued of Fulwiley and Watkins. "I get on them a lot, but certainly it's high praise for them today because ever since those practices prior to TCU, they've been on point.
"So I wanna put that out there because I know a lot of people wanna peel down some layers. It's their process too. It's their process. It's everybody's process that's behind me to get better," she added.
"Sometimes it's slower than we want as coaches, and sometimes we gotta hold some people back. But for those two, I just think that they've responded extremely well with what they were challenged with a week ago."
Dawn Staley with high praise for MiLaysia Fulwiley and Ashlyn Watkins today:
— Matt Dowell (@MattDowellTV) December 13, 2024
"I wanna put that out there b/c I know a lot of people wanna peel down some layers. It's their process too. It's their process. It's everybody's process that's behind me to get better."@GamecockWBB pic.twitter.com/dZigxMR6ce
While the details about what Fulwiley and Watkins were "challenged with" last week remain unclear, Staley is content with how these two standouts responded.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.