COLUMBIA — Dawn Staley coached MiLaysia Fulwiley for two seasons, but for the first time since she transferred to LSU, South Carolina women’s basketball is playing its former guard.
The showdown between the No. 3 Gamecocks (24-2, 10-1 SEC) and the No. 6 Tigers (22-3, 8-3) is on Feb. 14 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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Fulwiley left Staley’s program last April and now plays for who some feel is the biggest SEC rival for South Carolina.
“She’s pretty similar to what she’s been doing,” Staley said Feb. 13 when asked what she’s seen from Fulwiley at LSU so far. “She’s great in transition, can hit the 3-pointer, can get to the basket. I do think she’s putting a little bit more heat on the ball handler. Just looking like a junior, when things start to come together for them.”
What Dawn Staley said about MiLaysia Fulwiley before South Carolina vs LSU
This isn’t the first time Staley’s had to scout for a player she once coached. Even the most recent game had that scenario, as Tennessee’s Talaysia Cooper spent one season with South Carolina before heading to the Lady Vols.
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Staley said it’s the same approach regardless.
“They’re just a part of the personnel of the other team now,” Staley said. “Do we want to win? Absolutely. I don’t want to win because it’s my MiLaysia Fulwiley. I want to win because we got a chance to win the SEC. We got a chance to hopefully keep a No. 1 seed on on Selection Sunday night.”
South Carolina is projected as a No. 1 seed in multiple bracketology scenarios heading into the matchup. LSU was No. 5 overall in USA Today Sports’ projection of the top 16 seeds on Feb. 11, South Carolina No. 3 overall.
In ESPN’s, LSU was a two-seed and South Carolina was a one-seed.
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In the conference, LSU, Texas and Ole Miss have three losses, Vanderbilt and Tennessee have two and South Carolina has one.
“It’s all of those things, the MiLaysia dynamic, that’s the narrative that’s created to drum up the publicity for the game,” Staley said. “For us she was treated as Mikaylah Williams, as Flau’jae Johnson and going down the line. We’re not putting anything extra. We’re not going to do anything to her that is outside the norm. We’re going to play the game.”
South Carolina sometimes makes players available when Staley has her weekly press conference, but did not on Feb. 13
MiLaysia Fulwiley stats in first LSU season
Fulwiley is averaging 13.4 points, up from 11.7 her sophomore year and 11.8 her freshman season. She’s playing 21.5 minutes per game, also an increase from 18.9 last year and 18.4 her first college season.
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In conference play Fulwiley averaged 12 points per game as a freshman, 13.1 as a sophomore and through 11 SEC games, is averaging 11.1 at LSU. She’s shooting 39.4% from the field in conference games, likely to finish in the 40s like she did her first two seasons
She’s playing a little bit of point guard but mainly as a wing. Her turnover rate is up from 1.87 at South Carolina to 2.28 per game at LSU.
Staley was asked if she’s seen anything different in the way she’s being used at LSU.
“No I mean there’s a lot of similarities to what they’re doing,” Staley said. “I think the bottom line with it all, people want to win, coaches want to win. We’re paid to win basketball games, and we’re paid to improve our players.
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“If MiLaysia is improving, that’s great for MiLaysia. That’s what I want every single player, whether they’re mine or someone else’s, is to improve because when they improve the overall game improves. And I’m all for advancing women’s basketball.”
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dawn Staley on scouting MiLaysia Fulwiley for South Carolina vs LSU
