By james art 
South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley speaks to the media following the team’s season-opening 68-62 win over Michigan on Monday. Here’s all he had to say.
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For South Carolina’s halftime speech
“I mean, I thought they (Michigan) just got us back on our heels, they thought they had all the 50-50 balls. I thought they just played harder – they just attacked us. They imposed their will on us and were in attack mode for most of the night. We made adjustments – I saw us lay on the floor for loose balls. I saw some nastiness in our game and beauty – that’s what you want to see.
“It’s a really young season and we’re going to get the best of everyone all the time – we’re lucky to do that. I welcome the best of all, because if you are the goal, then you have achieved some success. And we’re obviously not going to shy away from having that target on our backs. We’ll hear the snarls of “They’re not the number one team in the country,” or this, or that. They don’t put us as the number one team in the country – we’d rather not have it.
“But now that we’re going to play like there’s no number, obviously, we have to make some adjustments. We obviously have some players that need to make adjustments in certain roles on our basketball team. And it takes a little time. I thought Michigan probably put their players in a better position to do that because they have a completely new roster, so they have the freedom to do that.
About Raven’s Johnson’s rough outing
“They left it open. Sometimes when they leave as open as they left Raven (Johnson) – Raven was hitting those shots in practice and she was hitting those shots in our demo game. So I don’t think he makes bad shots. We would probably much prefer it in a bit more rhythm. Just swiping around the horn and taking still shots won’t work in games – you have to create rhythmic shots by attacking the paint, kicking and then being able to see it coming a little better. But she defends, leads our basketball team. When Raven scores, it’s extra for us. But she will score for us and I hope she doesn’t lose confidence because she didn’t score tonight.”
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For South Carolina’s three points at the end of the first half
“We didn’t hit a lot of threes in the first half, so every time you could see somebody go down — (it was) an unselfish play by (Te Hina Pao Pao) even to find Tessa (Johnson) for this kicking. It’s one of those rhythmic shots—Tessa needed it, we needed it.
“I think our players are playing extremely unselfishly, but we have to find a way to put the ball in the hole, especially if we’re going to make 26 threes. We have to do a little better job of being more efficient.”
In the Naismith Hall of Fame series
“I think these young people — I don’t think they really have an understanding of anything outside of their world. So yes, we should expose them to events like this. And yes, there is a Naismith Hall of Fame and they can be part of the Hall of Fame too if they take care of the game. They have to fall in love with the game and the game will fall in love with them. Maybe one of them, or two of them — I don’t know what percentage will end up in the Hall of Fame.”
About the basketball atmosphere in Las Vegas
“We brought our team here. We brought our FAMs here. Many South Carolina women’s basketball fans came to fill this arena. But the fact that we can stand alone and play in a stadium like this and play before the men’s game and still have a huge crowd there, so our game is growing. This is just the tip of the iceberg where you will see more and more. I think you’re going to see more and more women come to Vegas and play, so I think it’s cool to be a part of the first—we’re actually the second. I think it’s an LSU-Colorado game, right?’
For the performance of South Carolina’s post players
“I saw a bit of a lack of experience, even for our experienced players. These are different roles for them. so (Sania) Faginit’s a different role – she’s used to coming off the bench. Now she’s in a starting role, and that role is much different than coming off the bench. That’s right.
“You have to perform – we have to know what we’re getting from our starters. People coming off the bench, they could probably play more or a more natural role – if you’re a goalscorer coming off the bench, score, okay? If you are starting out, then you should know what we do. You have to have energy. You must either merge, win tackles, manage our attacks; or you need to make an impact. It just can’t be anything like we can pull someone out of the stands to give us anything. And I’m not saying Fagin hasn’t given us anything. I’m just saying that the roles you have to play if you haven’t been a full-time starter are different.
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On South Carolina’s second-half adjustments
“I thought we did a pretty good job of controlling, controlling their shots to the basket. Once they drove to the basket, if we got out of position, they got ahead on possession and just made us scramble and roll. I thought we did a better job of that, and once we did that, they’re starting to expose us.
“Joyce (Edwards) hasn’t played college basketball in a long time. So there were some actions that they put her in that made her late and she was sucked in by some penetration. She couldn’t see her husband at the ball and then they made her pay. (They) knocked down a couple of threes on her, um, but I think they probably would have caught one of our post players with that. So it was only Joyce’s – it’s an action that forces your big to be the keeper in this situation. There’s a lot going on, but she’ll do better.”
On what made Michigan effective
“I saw a lot. Their shot makers – always moving with them without the ball. They know the kind of shots they want and they don’t settle. And when people don’t settle for shots, you should always pay attention to them. You almost have to pay, you know the player guarding them as well as the help. So it’s almost like they’re getting so much attention that they’re going to make you pay.
“We knew they were players who could fill up the stat sheet, and they did. I know their upcoming opponents have handled them well because they have been able to play their style of play.”
On Staley’s relationship with Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico
“Kim was great. She was great to work with. She’s a fireball – she really knows basketball. Having her on the bench gets her mind working. Her team plays like – it’s practically a new team, (but) they look like they’ve been together for a long time. So it’s a testament to the way she manages to coach and get the best out of her players.”
On the benefits of seeing the team play through early season adversity
“I like that we were challenged. I like the fact that we got exposure in certain areas because when you coach a team like this and we play against our Highlighters, it’s not just because we’re playing against guys – we got exposure against young women who were determined to play and made an impact as a collective unit. So it’s a great movie, great lessons, great intuition, great opportunity for us to learn. And, hopefully, we definitely need to improve as we head into the floor to play NC State on Sunday.”