South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, UConn’s Geno Auriemma have words after Final Four game

As the clock was striking zero in the women’s Final Four and the UConn Huskies’ 38-0 season, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma had to be separated by officials when meeting for a handshake.

The Gamecocks prevailed 62-48 in a battle of No. 1 seeds in Phoenix at Mortgage Matchup Center and the team leaders didn’t come together at midcourt for more than five seconds before tempers flared.

Geno Auriemma exchanged words with Dawn Staley in the final seconds of South Carolina and UConn’s Final Four matchup. pic.twitter.com/S6anlPKqwe

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 4, 2026

Auriemma, a 12-time national champion coach at UConn, was dragged away initially by game officials and other personnel before coming back over, and Staley continued to bark at him over something that was said.

Auriemma addressed the exchange in UConn’s postgame press conference, simply saying, “I said what I had to say.”

Auriemma, the next day, issued an apology on social media without mentioning Staley, saying there was no excuse for how he handled the end of the game.

Statement from Head Coach Geno Auriemma pic.twitter.com/q8La6lMqN6

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) April 4, 2026

In a postgame interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Staley said, “I guess (Auriemma) thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game,” as the possible reason for the 72-year-old’s role in the spat. She prefaced that by saying she is “of integrity.”

“I’m super proud of our kids and I’m not going to let any of this take anything away from the performance on the floor,” Staley added.

Auriemma’s fiery attitude was first kindled in an interview following the third quarter, where he expressed his disappointment in the officiating, namely with one of his players’ jerseys (Sarah Strong) being torn without repercussion.

“There were six fouls called that quarter, all of ’em against us. And (South Carolina’s) been beating the (expletive) out of our guys down there the entire game,” Auriemma told ESPN’s Rowe. “I’m not making excuses because we aren’t making a shot. But this is ridiculous.”

In the same short interview between quarters, Auriemma also accused Staley of calling officials “names you wouldn’t want to hear” without consequence.

The Huskies had won 54 straight games entering Friday and were outshot 22 to six at the free-throw line.

South Carolina will face fellow No. 1 seed UCLA in the national championship on Sunday.

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