South Carolina, Stanford coaches use matchup to again Brittney Griner

STANFORD, Calif. — South Carolina coach Daybreak Staley and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer wore long-sleeved shirts honoring Brittney Griner as a part of a collection of efforts to help the detained WNBA star throughout their groups’ No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup Sunday at Maples Pavilion.

The coaches acquired collectively on court docket earlier than the sport for a second of silence for Griner, who’s imprisoned in Russia after being convicted in August of drug expenses. The Phoenix Mercury middle was arrested in February in Moscow and is spending her 276th day in confinement as of Sunday.

Stanford additionally arrange a letter-writing station within the Maples concourse Sunday to ship playing cards to Griner.

The again of the T-shirts, which had been designed by Playa Society and are anticipated to be obtainable on the market later this month, have a message to Griner that reads: “Expensive BG: We love you and are preventing for you. Tens of millions of us are uplifting your title each likelihood we get, and we cannot cease till you might be residence. We hope our love and help reaches you and in the end units you free.”

A portion of the income from the sale of the shirts will go to the Deliver Our Households Residence Marketing campaign and the James W. Foley Legacy Basis, each of which advocate for the rights of Individuals detained in different international locations.

Griner gained gold medals as a part of the U.S. Olympic ladies’s basketball workforce in 2016 and 2021, the latter when Staley coached the Individuals. Staley performed for VanDerveer when the Individuals gained the 1996 gold medal.

VanDerveer spoke earlier than the sport about a few of her recollections of Griner when she was at Baylor. Griner’s Bears squad completed a 40-0 NCAA title season in 2011-12 with a championship-game victory over Stanford.

“We wish her to return residence, and we miss her,” VanDerveer mentioned.