Staley to face old coach in Sweet 16 matchup
When senior guard La’Keisha Sutton saw someone say on Twitter that upsets like Norfolk State, a 15-seed, beating Missouri, a 2-seed, don’t happen in the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament, she took offense.“I kind of butted in, like, ‘What are you implying? Anything can happen,’” Sutton said. “It’s March Madness.”
South Carolina will look to stir up some madness Saturday night, as the ladies play top-seeded Stanford at 11:30 p.m. in Fresno, Calif. While Stanford will be the highest ranked team the Gamecocks will have played this season, USC is all too familiar with the squad that beat them by 30 points early last season.
USC Coach Dawn Staley said the team didn’t look at that film in preparation for the Cardinals, though it’s pretty much the same team the Gamecocks faced last year. South Carolina, however, is an entirely different squad, according to Staley.
“I’m personally going to use that as motivation,” said junior Ieasia Walker. “I don’t want to get beat by 30, especially in the NCAA Tournament, but I think we’re a completely different team, and it’s going to be a much better game.”
The Gamecocks also have a connection to Stanford through Staley, who was coached by Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer on the 1996 Olympic team. Ironically, VanDerveer tried to discourage Staley from coaching, but Staley said VanDerveer probably didn’t know how serious she was about it.
Staley praised VanDerveer’s attention to detail, saying Stanford probably knows how to run South Carolina’s sets better than USC does. While the two have a friendship that Staley values, it won’t be a factor in the game.
“I’d much rather be cheering for Tara than be playing against her,” Staley said. “It is what it is. We’re playing in the Sweet 16, so I wish them well, but just not on Saturday night.”
Stanford is a traditionally elite women’s basketball program, but the Gamecocks have beaten the Lady Vols in Knoxville, Tenn., already this season, something that hadn’t been accomplished in 20 years.
“I think it gave us a lot of confidence,” Walker said of the UT win. “We know that we can beat teams like UConn and Stanford. We just have to put [in] a complete 40 minutes. We know what we do well, so we just need to make sure we keep doing that. We’re just trying to emulate what we did in that Tennessee game.”
The Gamecocks were also able to knock fourth-seeded Purdue on its home court in the round of 32. Saturday, the Gamecocks will not only be playing close to Stanford’s home, but will also have to play at 8:30 p.m., or 11:30 p.m. EST. USC has scheduled naps to combat the time change.
After USC beat Tennessee, Staley wasn’t happy with her team’s practices heading into the next game at Arkansas, saying the team was still hyped over the last victory. The Gamecocks suffered their worst loss of the season at the Razorbacks, but the experience has helped the Gamecocks better deal with success.
“It did help us because I think we were too high after the Tennessee game,” Sutton said. “We’re definitely focused on the game ahead of time. After the Purdue game, we talked about it that night. We danced and everything, but the next day, it was all about Stanford, so I think our team’s pretty focused right now.”