Dawn Staley turned part of her Thursday Final Four press conference into a grammar lesson.
At one point, the South Carolina head coach posed a question to the media members in attendance about the proper usage of “lie” and “lay.”
“I have a brief question, since you guys are writers, right?” Staley began. “I just posted a tweet and we had a long discussion in our coaches meeting. Our players were in the locker room lying or laying down.”
A writer informed Staley that her players were “lying” down. The Gamecocks head coach then segued into a PG-13 joke.
“I told our coaches, someone taught me you lie to get laid, right,” said Staley, as the room exploded in laughter.
It’s good to see Staley is loose as her team heads into the Final Four undefeated and favored to win the national title for the second year in a row.
Last year, the Gamecocks were upset by Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the national semifinals. Tomorrow night, they’ll face No. 3 seed NC State for the right to either have a rematch in the national championship game, either against the Hawkeyes or UConn, who South Carolina beat 83-65 earlier this season.
South Carolina is looking for its third national title under Staley, who cut down the nets in 2017 and 2022.