Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma give first thoughts on 2025 national title game
Dawn Staley is 3-0 in national championship games.
If only that could help her Gamecocks on Sunday.
“I wish it would spot us 10 points because we’re undefeated,” Staley said, laughing, after South Carolina’s Final Four win over Texas. “I’d feel really good about that.”
With a 74-57 win at Amalie Arena on Friday, South Carolina (35-3) advanced to Sunday’s national championship game against UConn.
The Huskies (36-3) beat UCLA 85-51 in the second semifinal on Friday night.
South Carolina lost 87-56 at home against UConn on Feb. 16 (its last loss to date). The Gamecocks opened up as an early 5.5- to 6.5-point underdogs in various sportsbooks.
The Bruins and the Huskies hadn’t tipped off as Staley began her postgame news conference, and USC’s coach said she was headed directly back out to the court to watch and scout the UCLA-UConn game with her assistants.
She did offer some insight into South Carolina’s preparation process as it tries to become the first college women’s basketball repeat national champion in 11 years.
“Nothing that happened prior to here is going to help us on Sunday — nothing,” Staley said. “If it’s UConn, it’s not going to help us. If it’s UCLA, not going to help us. I think playing in the game and seeing how the game is being played out, it’s the only thing that’s going to help us.”
Once the Gamecocks get to this stage, they’ve finished the job. Staley and South Carolina are 3-0 in national championships, beating Mississippi State in 2017 in Dallas, UConn in 2022 in Minneapolis and Iowa in 2024 in Cleveland.
“I don’t even bring it up,” Staley said. “It’s just singularly focused on winning a game. ... Saying that we’re undefeated in national championship games, I wish it helped.”
Sunday’s national championship game is set for a 3 p.m. tipoff on ABC.
Geno Auriemma talks South Carolina
Auriemma was in a better position to discuss Sunday’s national championship game considering his team’s opponent had already been determined.
“My preparation really is listening to what our coaching staff says to me about what they think based on all the film and everything that they’ve done, what they think is the key for us to win,” he said postgame of prepping for USC. “I have a great staff. All of them have been head coaches at one time. And I trust them.”
In 14 previous meetings, Auriemma’s UConn teams are 9-5 head-to-head against Staley’s South Carolina teams. That number’s quite high for non-conference opponents, because they play each other in the regular season frequently.
But South Carolina has won five of the last six meetings (five straight until February’s UConn win), and the Gamecocks have also won consecutive postseason meetings (mostly recently the 2022 national championship game).
“Over the last seven, eight, nine years, they’ve played basketball at an exceptionally high level,” Auriemma said. “When you think about the Final Fours they’ve been to, the consistency in their program and the ability to win national championships multiple times ... these are all things that are incredibly difficult to sustain.”
He added that it was fitting the title would come down to the Gamecocks and the Huskies, the two most consistent programs in the sport’s recent history.
“It does feel like the two most prominent programs right now in women’s college basketball are playing for the right to be national champions,” Auriemma said.
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 10:25 PM.
