After her South Carolina women's basketball team defeated LSU 76-70 on Thursday night, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley made waves when a reporter asked her what she thought of how unfriendly the LSU crowd was toward her — to which Staley, in iconic fashion, said, "Actually they were [friendly]. They were calling me boo."
It didn't take Staley long to capitalize on that quip and troll LSU fans further. She was seen wearing a "BOO" sweatshirt while coaching her still-undefeated South Carolina squad to a dominant, 91-74 victory over Vanderbilt on Sunday.
Dawn Staley rocking the ?BOO? hoodie today?@WLTX | #Gamecocks pic.twitter.com/aNT66vqkrm
— Chandler Mack (@chandlerdmack) January 28, 2024
Of course, it's understandable that Tigers fans feel spiteful toward Staley. The LSU women's team hasn't defeated Staley's Gamecocks since 2012.
While LSU coach Kim Mulkey tried to excuse the home loss on Thursday by claiming that, [Staley's] team has been in these situations. My team hasn't," that sentiment is hard to justify, considering LSU's national championship run just one year ago.
Staley, however, offered a different explanation for why her team managed to emerge victorious on Thursday.
"It was a game of runs," Staley told ESPN after the game. "They made big plays. We made big plays. The team that made the last play was the one that was going to win this basketball game."
Perhaps it's tough for Mulkey to admit that she continues to get out-coached by Staley. Even though her Tigers team won the national title in 2023, the decade-long dominance that Staley — who was hired by South Carolina in 2008 — has had over LSU clearly still gets under Mulkey's skin.
While South Carolina and LSU aren't scheduled to play each other again this season, there's a good chance that the two top-tier Southeastern Conference teams will meet each other at least once more during the postseason.
Whether that will be in the SEC Tournament, the NCAA Tournament, or both, remains to be seen. But we have to imagine that LSU will get at least one more crack to settle their vendetta against Staley and South Carolina in the coming months.
Until then, LSU fans have no choice but to watch as Staley keeps trolling them in creative ways.
