Dawn Staley lobbies for ‘GameDay’ return, responds to UConn fans’ ‘unfriendly banter’

ESPN’s “College GameDay” show might make its return to Columbia, South Carolina. At least, USC head coach Dawn Staley believes it should.

It was announced Tuesday that the women’s basketball game between No. 4 UConn and Tennessee in Knoxville would be the first of three appearances for “College GameDay” this season for the sport.

The ESPN showcase TV show was broadcast in Columbia last season when the Gamecocks faced the Volunteers. With two spots remaining for 2022-23, perhaps it could come back to the Soda City.

“I don’t know what the big secret is, they need to come back,” Staley said on Wednesday. “Especially when you do what the people here in Columbia, South Carolina have done over eight, nine years. To fill the building, the electricity in the building.”

Colonial Life Arena was sold out for last year’s Feb. 22 game against Tennessee, in which South Carolina won 67-53.

“I just don’t know why you don’t say, ‘Hey, we’re coming. I don’t care who they play,’ ” Staley said. “We’re coming down to Columbia, South Carolina because they’ve created something that no other team has done.’ ”

The No. 1 Gamecocks (16-0, 4-0 SEC) travel to face Kentucky (8-8, 0-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday. That game will be streamed via SEC Network Plus.

About those UConn comments ...

The Gamecocks are making a habit of playing in front of large crowds in the regular season.

They already faced Stanford on the road in front of a packed Maples Pavilion crowd, and their Feb. 5 game against UConn was announced Tuesday as a sellout.

In the hours that followed the sellout announcement, however, screenshots of Facebook comments made by self-described UConn fans were circulated on Twitter, with some of those remarks being disparaging toward Staley and her team.

Staley took to Twitter on Tuesday to respond to the remarks, and then addressed the issue again when speaking with reporters Wednesday.

“I really don’t take them too seriously,” Staley said about the comments. “I know I posted (to Twitter), but it was actually a joke. I don’t think I put the laughing emojis. But it was really a joke. I said we’re really sweet people. We really are.”

Comments shown from some members of the “UCONN Huskies Women’s Basketball Fan Club” Facebook group included racial undertones toward the USC’s women’s basketball team. One user called Staley and the Gamecocks “thugs.”

Staley wrote Tuesday on Twitter: “Thought we were done with those names….we are nice and sweet people. Bless the hearts of those not in the know. We love you too….and the door to our program is always open.”

According to those screenshot images being shared, one user said the Gamecocks’ team plays “street ball” and said that UConn “runs a clean program.” Another said South Carolina uses an “unsportsmanlike playing behavior” on the court.

Those specific comments were not found Wednesday by The State during a review of the Facebook group’s public page, which likely means they’ve been removed or hidden by moderators. Any remaining remarks that referenced South Carolina were mostly cordial in nature.

Staley on Wednesday said that USC’s fan base is “educated” on what goes on in the sports world and pays attention to what happens online.

“I think our fan base really kind of just waits in the wings for somebody to jump off with something like that so they can go in,” Staley said.

The word “thugs” was reportedly used by Missouri fans toward South Carolina’s players in 2018 when the teams played in Columbia, Missouri. Tensions between those two schools boiled over into physical play on the court and a lawsuit off it — with Staley filing a defamation lawsuit against former Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk after comments he made that suggested USC’s coach promoted an “unhealthy” hostile environment at Colonial Life Arena.

Staley did not reference that prior situation on Wednesday, however, and insisted that the most recent series of comments was simply trash talk and that “all fan bases do it.”

“It’s cool, it’s just unfriendly banter,” she said.