In the loss of title in Uconn, the imperfect season of South Carolina ends with an incomplete rehearsal mission

Tampa, Florida – Dawn Staley stood motionless, his arms crossed and her eyes fixed in front of her while the last seconds of the South Carolina season Cohaient time. She had already started to deal with what had happened during the defeat of the Gamecocks 82-59 against Uconn in the national championship on Sunday.

For this reason, she said that she had not had a broken heart. “You can see it happen in real time, and you can understand why you were beaten,” said Staley.

There was not one of the reasons why the quest for South Carolina to become repeated champion stopped. Not in a defeat of 23 points whose scoring somehow makes the closer 2025 title game than it was.

For 40 minutes, Staley had seen a better team achieve their potential to be the best team in the country. She saw Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong Mesh perfection for Huskies in the most important match of the season. As the margin of the match for the title climbed 32 halfway from the fourth quarter, Staley had apparently tried all the programming combinations that she and her staff could study. It doesn’t matter who Caroline du Sud has traveled, the results have barely changed. It was then that she released her completed elders.

A year after finishing the first undefeated season in school history, the imperfect season of Gamecocks ended imperfect. The Huskies delivered the final and the most sustainable.

South Carolina has sought to become the first repeated champions since 2016 and Win Staley a third title in four years in the process. Staley also sought to maintain personal perfection after winning titles as a coach during his first three appearances in the national championship.

Final | USC 59, Uconn 82

Thank you for your support all the FAM of the season. pic.twitter.com/sk1cdxsByc

– South Carolina Women’s Basketball (@gamecockwbb) April 6, 2025

The loss of Sunday does not do much to reduce this story. Losing only four games in 2024-25, the Gamecocks remain a giant in sport and a program that succeeds in an unequaled success in a booming period of parity around women’s university basketball. However, the loss of South Carolina against Uconn has revealed many imperfections. Before the final buzzer sounded, Staley had already started to think about how they would continue.

“You are starting to think in real time what we need if we (we) get this situation again to be better and to have a different result,” she said.

Despite the success of last season, the Gamecocks did not focus on making a perfect season. From the start of summer training sessions, South Carolina coaches did not mention victories sequences. Rather, they focused on building productive habits. Staley often asked his coaches who would be these non-negotiations. The Gamecocks sought to play together, playing hard, bouncing, dictating in defense and being hungry. Against almost all opponents, they did exactly that.

But the Huskies have proven to be too big for South Carolina. Not once, but twice.

Uconn beat the Gamecocks of 29 points in mid-February in Columbia, SC The defeat broke the sequence of 71 games from the Gamecocks, and it was one of the worst losses of Staley’s mandate. The junior goalkeeper of Raven Raven Johnson clearly said: “This loss was very embarrassing.”

South Carolina returned to training after receiving a day off, and this Tuesday, the veterans took responsibility for their performance. The main goalkeeper Te-Hina Paopao apologized to his teammates during a cinema session before taking the training court. The assistant Jolette Law said they had faced a choice that week: “Are we lying on the carpet or are we going to get up?”

The answer was the latter, and the South Carolina no longer lost before their revenge match against the Huskies in Tampa.

But for all their growth in the past six weeks, their season has always ended with a groan.

The Gamecocks were exceeded, upgraded in the paint and allowed more reversal points than they have scored. Staley was sitting on the bench for a large part of the second half, looking at the eruption in front of it. And regardless of the number of times she expressed her frustration or applauded in an attempt to urge her players, little.

Unlike the past elite teams of South Carolina, no one has played on this season’s list. The Staley championship team in 2017 was led by A’ja Wilson. Aliyah Boston was the center of the Gamecocks 2022 championship list, and Kamilla Cardoso was the support point for last year. This iteration had no heliocentric design.

This construction turned out to be a blessing – the unpredictability made it difficult to plan the game against gamecocks – and a curse.

Between the third and fourth quarters, while the South Carolina followed the 20 -year -old Huskies, Staley was questioned in a television interview on which would mark for them in the period which followed. “I don’t know,” she replied.

I never think I saw Dawn Staley swear on national television 📺 pic.twitter.com/roswcvwmiw

– Jeannie (@Jeanniebriatt) April 6, 2025

Second-year goalkeeper Milaysia Fulwiley only played three minutes in the first quarter and seven in the first half. The first year star Joyce Edwards recorded only eight minutes in the first half and had three turnarounds and five points before the break. Without a clear response to turn, the Gamecocks did not have a two -digit scorer before the fourth quarter.

Staley knows that his list will go through changes. All teams inevitably do it. Seniors Bree Hall, Sania Feagin and Paopao will not be back. Johnson could also choose to become a professional.

“We need experienced players who can come and contribute immediately and bring a little leadership to a core of young players who are quite talented,” said Staley.

The announcements could come soon. Staley admitted that “there are things in preparation”, although she did not specify who or what it would be.

Maybe Staley will find a star that gamecocks can guarantee an offense when called. But she also appreciates the importance of maintaining the altruistic culture they have built.

“This whole class is the quintessence of sacrifice,” said Staley about his elders. “They sacrificed and learned by sitting down or playing minimum minutes.”

It was a rarity at that time, in which the transfer portal raged during the NCAA tournament.

Staley will once again be faced with a balance in the future, with two TOP-25 recruits entering the program next fall. But she learned to manage different changing rooms and different trips of a season since she took the post of South Carolina in 2008. This included three regular season losses, an unusual lack of crisp in Sweet 16 and Elite Eight and a possible loss of title.

In the locker room later, Staley encouraged players to feel the emotions of defeat, but also to keep their heads. She, of course, also thanked her elders. And just after 6 p.m., the Huskies still celebrating the Amalie Arena court, the Gamecocks began to classify outside the stadium.

Some players were still in uniform. The sun was still shining while Staley was heading for the team’s bus.

“We tried to throw a lot on (UCONN), and they got up above,” said Staley. “They rose above everything.”

South Carolina was on the other side of this. They know what a winner feels. On Sunday, they remembered the way the losses of reigning matches.

(Photo: C. Morgan Engel / NCAA photos via Getty Images)