PARIS — Dawn Staley had nothing to do but walk away and throw her hands up.
From playing and coaching basketball in every corner of the world — this time standing on the sideline at the first ever college basketball game in France — she has seen everything.
This one was too much.
When her true freshman point guard MiLaysia Fulwiley dished off an inch-perfect no-look pass to Tehina Pao-Pao for her second jaw-dropping highlight in No. 6 South Carolina’s 100-71 win over Notre Dame, it required an emotional release.
“You can’t help but to feel that,” Staley said about her reaction. “As a basketball enthusiast, you can’t help but feel it in the moment, because there’s not a lot of players that can do that. I’m not talking about females. We’re talking males, females and whoever else wants to pick up a basketball, cannot do that.”
Fulwiley’s numbers alone were enough to stop the presses everywhere. She scored 17 points in her college debut, the former fact enough to make fans forget the latter entirely. In a vacuum, it would have turned heads around the college basketball world. Stack up the six steals, six assists, rebound and a blocked shot and it reaches the type of rarified air you have to scratch your head to find comparables for in a debut game.
But even an entire phone book full of stats would not capture the true magic of Monday night at Halle Georges Carpentier, the sort of unquantifiable talent that made Staley call the Keenan High School product “generational” before she ever played a minute.
Fulwiley, 23 on-court minutes into her collegiate career, is appointment viewing.
“Man, Lay, she is a special one,” guard Tehina PaoPao said. “She’s a hooper. You hear she’s a gamer; that’s what she is. I definitely didn’t think she saw me during that play but she was like, ‘I saw you, I saw you.’ And I was like, ‘oh, yeah, you did.’”
She opened her account with a defensive rebound and a sprint down court for a transition assist to Raven Johnson. There were aesthetic passes and fancy handles and even a made 3-pointer in there, of course all around Staley’s flabbergasted third quarter moment.
And then there was *that* play.
The one that made Magic Johnson — the flashiest point guard in basketball history — jump to Twitter to share his bewilderment.
The five-second moment of perfection that somehow felt like it was moving in slow motion and fast forward simultaneously. It happened so fast, nobody knew how to react. Stunned reactions on both benches and disbelieving faces from everyone fortunate enough to see it in person.
The play people will remember as ground zero for anything that might follow in Fulwiley’s career.
One possession of basketball genius that belongs alongside all the other works of brilliance the Gamecocks saw on their Friday Louvre tour.
It speaks for itself. The artist commented anyway.
“I felt great just knowing that we’ve been prepared for this moment for a long time,” Fulwiley said. “But when I did the behind the back move, that’s actually a move that I did very often in high school. When I did it, I kind of felt like I was in high school again.”
She will not play a nearly flawless game or send NBA Hall of Famers running to their phones every single night, and there is still a development process ahead.
But her one game was enough to illustrate what she already has. Skill you cannot teach and the unflinching confidence to stretch those skills to the absolute limit under any circumstance.
“I don’t have the gall,” Staley said, comparing her own game to Fulwiley’s. “I don’t know if I ever had the gall to do multiple moves. I was a straight behind-the-back pass. To add two or three or four moves to an action was pretty impressive. To allow the receiver to know it’s coming and make her job easy, she’s pretty special. I said she’s a generational talent, and that’s what I meant.”
This is one of those unique players. An intersection of creativity, talent and self-belief to form an electric highlight reel every single time a game tips off.
The type of athlete you stalk the bench for while she sits in anticipation of her return to the court, and one who makes you not even dare to leave your seat for any reason once she is back out there.
Speed that makes you realize you can’t look away, and moves that make you never want to.
“I just zoned out,” Fulwiley said when asked if she saw Staley’s reaction to her pass. “I’m just focused on the game during the game.”
Welcome to the Fulwiley show. The pilot episode was unforgettable.
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