South Carolina coach Dawn Staley’s No. 2 Gamecocks started the season with a dominant 94-54 win over the Grand Canyon Antelopes on Monday. The Gamecocks have been tabbed to be the likeliest team to wrest away the national championship crown from the reigning champions, the UConn Huskies.
Last season ended in disappointment as Staley’s attempts to defend the national championship were dashed by coach Geno Auriemma’s swashbuckling Huskies, who blew the Gamecocks out 82-59 in the championship game.
Dawn Staley Denies Ducking UConn Allegations
Despite playing annually, South Carolina and UConn will not play each other this season due to Big East scheduling conflicts for the Huskies. While speaking to the media after fans on various social media platforms accused Staley of ducking the Huskies, the Gamecocks coach passionately denied the allegations.
“We’ve been accused of ducking and all of that crap. Come on. We’ve played UConn for the past, I don’t know, 11 seasons. Now is the time to duck?” Staley said. “We could have ducked [UConn] seven, eight, nine years ago. No, it’s just so happened that [UConn] got more games scheduled in their conference, so it was hard to continue the home-and-home. But we were gonna find a way to play. [South Carolina vs. UConn] is a great competition for us, and for women’s basketball.”
Staley has a 5-10 record against Auriemma, and she first beat the Huskies in 2020, leading to four straight wins for the Gamecocks in the series. She also became the first coach to beat Auriemma in a national championship game, and in return, the UConn coach was the first to inflict defeat on Dawn Staley in a national championship game this year.
College basketball fans on X had mixed reactions to Staley’s comments about playing Auriemma’s Huskies.
“Dawn should stay off Twitter because she always take the bait of immature kids,” one fan advised Staley.
Dawn should stay off Twitter because she always take the bait of immature kids 🤦🏽♀️🤣
— LoveOverLust (@NikkiWeb) November 6, 2025
“It’s so embarrassing for her to admit she’s being rage baited by twitter,” another fan wrote.
It’s so embarrassing for her to admit she’s being rage baited by twitter 🤣
— LauraMA (@AriganelloLaura) November 6, 2025
“No one real thinks you are ducking anybody. It’s twitter banter,” one fan tweeted.
No one real thinks you are ducking anybody. It’s twitter banter.
— Matthew (@wolfsburgfl) November 6, 2025
“Dawn gotta log out the apps,” another fan tweeted.
Dawn gotta log out the apps.
— Aries ♈️ Energy 🔥 (@ariesenergy0415) November 6, 2025
“Tbh this use to be Geno, always getting rage baited. This is why he’s off twitter now bc he was making things messier than they needed to be and I think dawn should follow suit,” one fan claimed.
Despite the ‘ducking’ concerns, it was announced on Monday that Staley’s Gamecocks will clash against Auriemma’s Huskies on Nov. 24, 2026, at the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
In addition, the two sides will play in 2027 in the Ally Tipoff at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
