South Carolina’s head coach Dawn Staley left Sunday’s game against UCLA with a loss for the first time in 44 games, but Staley did take notice of the “great atmosphere” at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.
“It was a great game, great atmosphere and great opportunity for UCLA to knock us off,” Staley said in the postgame press conference following the Bruins’ 77-62 win. “I thought we did a good job on Betts but we got killed by everybody else.”
As a team, UCLA shot 47% from the field and drilled ten threes while shooting 48% from deep in an efficient outing for the Bruins against the reigning national champion Gamecocks.
“They hit open looks, contested looks,” Staley said of the Bruins. “They had it going on on both sides of the basketball.”
It was the first time that UCLA head coach Cori Close had ever defeated Staley, it was also the first time in school history that the Bruins defeated South Carolina, bumping UCLA to 1-4 all-time against the Gamecocks.
“We knew we were going to play a really good UCLA team, didn’t anticipate them shooting the way they shot the basketball,” Staley said. “It was beautiful basketball by UCLA. Beautiful. On both sides, I’m on the opposite side of it but you can’t help but to love up on it because it was fluid.”