Are South Carolina’s players on TikTok too much? Dawn Staley responds to fan criticism
On Friday, the No. 1 South Carolina women’s basketball team trailed No. 4 Maryland by one point with three minutes to go before pulling out a win in the Sweet 16.
One prominent Gamecocks fan had thoughts on why the game was so close.
TikTok.
“I better not see another ... TikTok video the rest of this weekend!!!!” the rapper Plies, a self-described South Carolina WBB superfan, wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the Gamecocks’ 71-67 win in Birmingham. “We need to be in the gym getting up shots!!! Time to lock in or we going home!!”
After USC faced its first fourth-quarter deficit of the tournament and had its closest win yet (four points), he implied that the some of this year’s team heavy social media usage — including on TikTok, the popular short-form video app — was a distraction.
“Time to lock in or we going home!!” Plies wrote Friday night. “Enough of this ... It’s all about advancing so I’ll take it!!! But we better than this!!”
The rapper’s post drew hundreds of reactions from fans on X, with the majority of commenters agreeing with Plies. USC coach Dawn Staley addressed the criticism ahead of the Gamecocks’ Elite Eight game vs. No. 2 Duke on Sunday.
“I think Plies sums up what probably all of our fans would like to see: Our players locked in, ready to go,” Staley said Saturday from Legacy Arena. “But that’s just not this era of players. You can fight it all you want to fight it. You can take the phones away, but they’ve got other devices. ... It’s not worth it.”
Staley, who has jokingly referred to managing her two most recent USC teams like running a daycare, said it’s important to allow players “their space” and social media, including filming and posting TikToks, can be “part of their decompressing.”
“Their approach can’t be all basketball, because at some point they’ll mentally tire of it,” Staley said. “Then, they can’t perform when it’s time to perform.”
As South Carolina vies for a second straight national championship and its fourth overall in the past eight tournaments, Staley said she appreciates how fans such as Plies are invested in the team and want to see USC succeed.
But if they’re hoping for South Carolina players, many of whom have large followings on TikTok, to stop posting during the postseason, that’s wishful thinking.
“God bless Plies,” Staley said, grinning, “but they’re not going to do it. Although they’ll probably look at the post and maybe think about it. But they’ll keep scrolling.”
Players react to TikTok criticism
Speaking from South Carolina’s locker room on Saturday, Gamecocks players said Plies’ comment had made the rounds among their team postgame.
They had mixed reactions to fans’ TikTok criticisms.
“He’s sorta right about that,” senior guard Raven Johnson said. “I mean, we are heavy on being on TikTok a lot, but we’re young ... we’re kids at the end of the day. We need things more than just basketball to keep our life balanced.”
Senior guard Bree Hall rolled her eyes when asked about Plies’ post.
“I did see it,” said Hall, who has one of the more active TikTok pages and followings among the team. “That’s all I have to say about it. Plies, I’ll be seeing you soon.”
Redshirt sophomore center Adhel Tac said that such criticisms come from a “great place”: Fans want South Carolina to be as locked in and advance as far as possible.
But a close game doesn’t always equate to an off-court issue, she said.
She encouraged USC fans to think about players using TikTok as one of many hobbies used by players on the team to stay grounded. For instance, Tac and senior forward Sania Feagin both enjoy building Lego sets. Tac and Johnson like doing their hair. Senior forward Chloe Kitts has a coloring book. Hall does her makeup.
TikTok, one of the world’s most popular platforms, is also a key part of players leveraging their personal brands and name, image and likeness (NIL).
So if the Gamecocks find themselves in a thriller, like they did on Friday in Birmingham, players said it’s not completely fair to attribute their struggles to making TikTok videos in their free time (with occasional cameos from Staley).
“Some people, they eat, sleep and breathe basketball,” Johnson said. “So you need social media, TikTok, things like that. ... You can dance your way through things. You can laugh your way through things. TikTok is fun. It’s very enjoyable.”
Tac added that she and the team appreciate how Staley and USC’s coaching staff allow them to be themselves outside of basketball while being stern when needed.
“She understands that we need that balance and she allows us to find that balance,” Tac said. “But at the same time ... it’s going too far, she can rein us in.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM.
