Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell was spitting fire after the latest loss to Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks on Sunday. The 93-50 was the largest defeat the Lady Vols had suffered in the program’s history. Frustrated with the historic loss, Caldwell bashed her team in the post-game presser. When Staley was asked about Caldwell’s comments, she had veteran advice for the young coach.

“We had a lot of quit in us tonight,” Kim Caldwell blasted her players. “We’re not comfortable when things don’t go our way, and I have a team that will quit on you. You can’t do that in big games; you can’t do that any time in the SEC.”

37-year-old Caldwell is in her second year of coaching the Lady Vols, and the second season hasn’t been memorable so far. For a young coach to have a reaction in front of the media is not expected, but certainly not surprising. But despite agreeing with Caldwell’s reaction, Staley could understand the reason behind the reaction.

“For a young coach like Kim, coaching for the traditional powerhouse of Tennessee, for me, I probably wouldn’t say it publicly,” the Gamecocks coach said with a bit of a smile. “That’s one. Two, you just gotta get your team to buy in and sometimes it’s tricking them, coz it’s a game that you really have to balance to play with the players. They know they played [bad].”

Dawn Staley also had some tips for Caldwell to handle her team after the frustrating loss. For the veteran coach, negativity bred negative results, and the coaches needed to be aware of that.

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“Sometimes you need to bring what good happened. If you can find something good in it. Some of that can relax them a little bit cuz competitors know when they don’t play well, they know when they need to change their mindset. You need the majority of your team thinking the same way and it has to be positive. If it’s negative, you’re gonna get negative results. So, I would start from there.”

For Caldwell, the frustration did not suddenly mount after one game. Just a week ago, UConn handed them a 30-point defeat. It was the second-largest defeat they had suffered in program history before the USC game. The 43-point defeat was the largest margin of defeat that Tennessee had suffered in its program history. The previous record was 31 points, handed by Texas in 1984.

Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks suffocated Tennessee with a Zone Defense

It was a cakewalk for the Gamecocks, too. They played without much resistance in the game. USC shot 69.2 percent through four periods, recording the highest shooting percentage in the program’s history in an SEC game. They also shot over 70 percent in the second half, while suffocating Tennessee’s offense. Gamecocks switched to a 2-3 zone defense in the second quarter, forcing Tennessee to settle for 3-point shots.

“We looked a little scared versus the zone…didn’t run anything. We didn’t put pressure on the rim,” Caldwell admitted after the loss. “When we stood out there and launched threes, it got ugly pretty quick.”

Compared to the Gamecocks’ 20, the Lady Vols attempted only five free throws through the game. That sums up the breakdown of their game plan against USC’s defense. Through four quarters, the Lady Vols shot under 23 percent from beyond the arc. They shot only 18.8 percent in the second half and were outscored by 46-18. Dawn Staley later revealed that the zone defense was temporary. However, watching Tennessee’s offense crumble, she decided to continue with it.

The No. 3 Gamecocks will now face No. 6 LSU in their next game on Saturday. It will be interesting to see what game plan Kim Mulkey comes up with, looking for her first win over Staley as the Tigers’ coach.