What worries Dawn Staley as South Carolina women's basketball chases perfection in Elite 8

ALBANY, N.Y. — South Carolina women's basketball is in the midst of a historic stretch, advancing to its fourth-consecutive Elite Eight during while reaching a 35-0 record for the second-straight season.

But South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said Saturday that she's worried about her team every day.

"Even our coaches were like, are you drinking the Kool-Aid?" Staley said. "A lot of times we're saying we're sipping but we're not going to take a full gulp, as to how good this team is."

South Carolina will play for a spot in the Elite Eight against No. 3 Oregon State on Friday (1 p.m., ABC) at MVP Arena.

While the No. 1 Gamecocks' season has been perfect on paper, it hasn't been as perfect as Staley would like. South Carolina needed comeback wins on the road against LSU and UNC, then nearly blew leads of more than 20 points against Tennessee and Indiana in the postseason.

Staley said even she wouldn't have predicted this team would be 35-0. She's constantly worried about how her team can have bad moments in games and blow leads like it did Friday.

"I'm worried every day. Every single day," Staley said. "They're still very young. They've had young moments. They've had mature moments. They've had questionable moments. But we sit here where we are."

If Staley is worried, however, it doesn't come through to her players.

"We have the Dawn Staley," sophomore guard Raven Johnson said. "When you have a coach like that, how can you sweat? If she don't sweat, you don't sweat."

Evan Gerike covers South Carolina women's basketball for the Greenville News. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Dawn Staley worries as South Carolina basketball chases perfection