PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers University women’s basketball team leader Essence Carson said the team is “highly angered” and “deeply saddened” by radio host Don Imus’ slurs, but the players have agreed to meet privately with him.

Imus, who has been suspended for two weeks in the uproar, “has stolen a moment of grace from us,” Carson said in televised remarks to reporters Tuesday.

Imus has offered to meet with the team and Carson said, “We have agreed to have a meeting with Mr. Don Imus.”

Players stopped short of saying whether they thought Imus should be fired for calling the team “nappy-headed hos.”

Carson said Imus didn’t just attack a team of athletes.

“The door has been left open to attacking the leaders of tomorrow,” she said.

Star player Matee Ajavon said of the scandal: “It kind of scars us.”

But she said she was “kind of happy” that the outcry sparked a national discussion about racism.

“Racism is something serious that we really need to get across to our nation,” Ajavon said.

Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer called comments made by radio host Don Imus “racist and sexists remarks that are deplorable, despicable and unconscionable.”

“These young ladies are the best this nation has to offer, and we are so very fortunate to have them at Rutgers University,” Stringer said of her players.

“They are young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate, they are gifted. They are God’s representatives in every sense of the word.

“It’s not about them (players) as black or nappy headed. It’s about us as a people,” Stringer said.

“When there is not equality for all, or when there has been denied equality for one, there has been denied equality for all.”

Team member Heather Zurich also denounced Imus, saying he spoke out of ignorance.

“He knows not one of us,” she said.