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The South Carolina women's basketball team had a historic season, going undefeated until a loss to Iowa in the Final Four.
Dawn Staley, South Carolina's longtime head coach, expressed frustration about the way her team's style of play was characterized leading up to the semifinal game.
Staley took particular issue with a comment Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder made earlier in the week describing rebounding against the Gamecocks as "going to a bar fight."
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Head coach Lisa Bluder of the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first quarter against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the 2023 NCAA Tournament Final Four at American Airlines Center March 31, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Iowa pulled off a major upset on Friday by defeating the top-seeded Gamecocks, 77-73. Iowa star player Caitlin Clark led the way for the Hawkeyes with 41 points.
On Saturday, Bluder claimed she was not aware of Staley's postgame remarks. She shrugged off the South Carolina coach's issue with the description of the Gamecocks' physical style of play.
"If you know me, I speak tongue in cheek a lot, and I was saying an analogy of you've got to rebound like you're in a bar fight," Bluder said. "That's all. It doesn't say who's fighting, right? But that's fine. I've never been in a bar fight, by the way."
Lisa Bluder, head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, celebrates their win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament's Final Four at American Airlines Center March 31, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Bluder's response glossed over the main point of Staley's complaints suggesting a narrative has been created about South Carolina's style of play.
After falling to the Hawkeyes, Staley said she believed the public perception of her team impacted the way referees call their games.
"We're not bar fighters. We're not thugs. We're not monkeys. We're not street fighters," Staley said. "This team exemplifies how you need to approach basketball on the court and off the court. And I do think that that's sometimes brought into the game, and it hurts."
Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes during a 2023 NCAA Tournament Final Four game at American Airlines Center March 31, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
In February, Staley made similar comments following a game against the UConn Huskies. After South Carolina's 81-77 win Feb. 5, longtime UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said defense on Lou Lopez Senechal was "not basketball."
Auriemma added that Senechal had "bruises on her body," suggesting South Carolina players' physical style of defense caused the injuries.
Staley pushed back against Auriemma's remarks during her radio call-in show.
"Every time that we're successful, we're called something other than players that are locked in," Staley said. "They play the right way and approach it the right way whether they win or lose. We don't denounce anybody's play. They are always uplifting the game of women's basketball, and when we were getting our heads beat in by UConn for all those years, I said nothing."
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During the game against UConn, 21 fouls were called against South Carolina.
More than 20 fouls were called against the Gamecocks in just three games this season. Friday's Final Four game against Iowa was one of those games.