The South Carolina women's basketball game against Missouri on Sunday featured a scuffle in the second quarter, but that was only the start of what would stem from it.
Recently there has been a lot of confusion and concern as to why Missouri’s athletic director, Jim Sterk, made derogatory accusations on the fan environment that Dawn Staley helped to create against Missouri. Sterk alleged that USC fans used racial slurs and spit at players.
“The accusations are serious and false and they will be handled in a manner reflective of those facts,” Staley said.
According to athletic director Ray Tanner, he was very confused as to why Sterk targeted Staley and still is unsure of what his exact intent was.
"I felt very strongly about what we stand for here at this university for women’s basketball,” Tanner said. “Our fan base, our head coach and the way we handle our business and have handled our business over the years, and some things were said that were very confusing ... we did not find any evidence or confirmation.”
According to Staley, not only has this incident resulted in her losing sleep, but lately she has been on edge because of this distraction.
“Anytime that you have to deal with distractions, ... you prioritize and the priority right now is UConn and that has been my focus,” Staley expressed. "There's another game to be played and I’m responsible for 12 individuals that want to beat UConn.”
Staley made it clear to the media on Wednesday just how much she backs each of her fans and supports their loyalty to her program.
Tanner has nothing but positivity to push towards Staley for building a tremendous program and a passionate fan base while they have been faced with these statements. There is a strong hope from Tanner that there will be a resolution coming in some form or fashion that will at least calm down this rivalry and make it less intense.
The Gamecock community has shown their support for Staley and her team along with head basketball coach Frank Martin and the University of South Carolina's president Harris Pastides. Pastides tweeted Wednesday night: "Coach Staley, we support you 100%. You are a unifier not a divider. We "got your back.'"'
“They’re going to be handled. They’re not going to be handled right here, and they’re not going to handled in a manner that they were dealt," Staley said regarding how the university plans to handle this issue. “They're going to be handled in the right manner.”