It seems the hype around South Carolina has recently cooled. For the first time since the 2022-23 season, Dawn Staley’s side did not win both the SEC regular-season and tournament championships. The 2-time defending champions were slapped with a 78-61 loss by Texas in the SEC Tournament Finals. And yet, South Carolina assistant coach Khedilijah Sessions piped this as one of  Staley’s best coaching seasons of all time. The reason? Sheer amount of injuries. 

“Not being completely healthy—that hurts you. Losing Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts—those are vital, tough pieces,” Sessions said in an interview with Sports Director Matt Dowell. “But that’s why you credit Coach Staley so much, because this might have been, to me personally, one of her toughest years to coach—just from top to bottom, from injuries, from not having everybody at full strength. 

Kitts and Watkins have been recovering from ACL tears, sitting out this season. Staley still has Kitts as a player coach on the sidelines. But on the court, she has very limited options. Staley is missing an experienced forward in Ashlyn, who averaged 9.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in her last full season in 2023-24. Kitts was essential in getting the Gamecocks to the National Championship game last year, averaging 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds. She was expected to explode this year. 

More importantly, Kitts’ injury happened in October 2025, just as the season was about to start. The timing made it even harder for Staley to pivot and adjust her plans.“She’s used to having a tough, long bench, having multiple people, multiple options to go to.” Sessions further said. “Sometimes I bench with her, we playing with six and seven people, which is weird.”

Staley has only 6 players who have played more than 40% of the total available minutes, including Joyce Edwards and Raven Johnson, who have played 75% and 72%, respectively. Even in those core 6, Ta’Niya Latson has missed time due to a left leg injury, Agot Makeer had a lower leg injury and Maddy McDaniel injured her knee early in the season. For context, in both of the last 2 years, she has had 8 players playing 40% or more minutes. And that has not been a luxury but a product of smart recruiting. 

“For her to maneuver that with the tough SEC conference that we had this year, this can arguably be one of her best coaching seasons,” Sessions concluded. “I don’t know how the ending—hopefully the ending is what we all hope it to be—but if she does this this year, then I need the conversations to change, because this is next-level work.”

Despite their problems, Staley and Co. currently have the 3rd best offense and 4th best defense per Barttorvik. Staley beat the likes of Texas, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and LSU to the SEC regular season title, proof of their consistency. The finals loss was taken on a positive note, as Staley framed it as “the very thing this team needs.” Looking to March Madness, Sessions was confident that this team can go all the way under Dawn Staley.

Khedilijah Sessions Backs Dawn Staley’s Winning Ability Ahead Of Selection Sunday

UConn is the favorite for the national championship. The unbeaten defending champions look even better, but South Carolina and UCLA are on their heels. According to Sessions, they can go up against any of those teams and come out on top, provided they clean up on three things. 

“We can score with the best of them when we’re on, when everybody’s on, we can score with the best of them.” She said. “We just got to make sure we come back healthy and focused and put the ball in the basket, not turn the ball over, and make free throws.”

They committed 14 turnovers as opposed to Texas’ 9 in the Conference finals. The team has averaged 12.8 turnovers per game, ranking 23rd in the country. Aware teams can easily punish such sloppiness on the big stage. In the last 5 games, the team has shot at 46.7%, which is almost 5% less than the rest of the season. Their free throw percentage is down to 64.18% from 73.85. While it sounds like nitpicking, against the best teams in the country, it might come down to the smallest differential. 

“I think the sky’s the limit for this team. Playing together, playing hard, and just following the game plan that we put together. Because Coach Staley knows how to win,” Sessions said. Most projections put the Gamecocks as the No. 1 overall seed in the Sacramento Regional. That means South Carolina wouldn’t have to play the likes of Texas or Oklahoma until later in the tournament. But they might face Iowa State, Ole Miss or Iowa.