What Dawn Staley said about Sahnya Jah entering the transfer portal

Sahnya Jah spent less than a year as a member of the South Carolina women’s basketball program before entering the transfer portal earlier this week.

That doesn’t change how USC coach Dawn Staley feels about her.

“Once you’re part of our family, you’ll always been part of our family,” Staley said Thursday in a pre-NCAA Tournament media availability, her first since Jah formally put her name in the transfer portal Monday.

Jah, a freshman and former four-star recruit from Virginia, had been away from the team since Feb. 8. USC announced that day Jah would be “out indefinitely due to conduct detrimental to the team” and her status would be day to day moving forward. Staley declined to elaborate on why specifically Jah had been disciplined.

Jah did not appear in a game for South Carolina after that discipline and did not dress out with the team at home or travel with the Gamecocks to road games. She ended her USC career having appeared in 16 games and averaged 9.1 minutes and 3.1 points per game off the bench.

Jah formally entered the portal Monday.

Staley said in a statement that afternoon that while it was “unfortunate” Jah’s time with the program was short, she and USC wished the outgoing transfer forward “the best in the next steps of her career.”

Staley elaborated on those comments Thursday.

“I wish her well,” Staley said. “She’s allowed me to be a part of that process, finding another school that fits her and will welcome her. Once you’re a part of our family, you’ll always be a part of our family, whether you stick out the four, three, two, I don’t know how many years you could possibly be in our program. ... But she’ll always have me as a resource.”

Jah was the first USC player to enter the transfer portal this cycle and first overall for the Gamecocks and Staley since backup guard Talaysia Cooper entered the portal last summer. Cooper committed to Tennessee and is sitting out this season as a redshirt, since she opted to transfer after the portal window closed.

USC (32-0) is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament bracket and starts play Friday afternoon against No. 16 seed Presbyterian College, an in-state program, at Colonial Life Arena.

Columbia’s NCAA WBB Tournament Schedule

• Friday: No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 9 Michigan State, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)

• Friday: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 16 Presbyterian, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

• Sunday: Winners of Friday games, TBD (TBD)