Geno Auriemma, Dawn Staley separated during heated postgame handshake after UConn loss
Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley got into it during the UConn-South Carolina meeting in the Final Four. Here's what happened:
A testy, hard-fought Final Four meeting between UConn and South Carolina spilled onto the sidelines of the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix. Minutes after Huskies coach Geno Auriemma blasted officials and Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley for what he described as a discrepancy in fouls, the two coaches got into a heated confrontation in the waning moments of South Carolina's 62-48 win . REQUIRED READING: South Carolina upsets UConn, ends 54-game win streak to advance to championship ESPN cameras caught the two briefly shaking hands before Auriemma made some comments at Staley.
That ignited a brief shouting match between the two, with assistant coaches and officials needing to get between the two women's basketball stalwarts. Things got HEATED at the end of South Carolina-UConn as Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma exchanged words š® pic. twitter.
com/e0LCmWX9zy ā ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 4, 2026 Immediately following South Carolina's win in the Final Four, cameras captured Auriemma heading toward the UConn locker room without getting in the handshake line again with South Carolina's coaches and players. Speaking after the game with ESPN's Holly Rowe, Staley said she had no idea what prompted Auriemma's outburst against her. "I have no idea, but I'm going to let you know this, I'm of integrity.
I'm of integrity," Staley said. "So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did, I guess he thought I didn't shake his hand at the beginning of the game, I didn't know, I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff's hand, I don't know what we came with after the game, but hey sometimes things get heated. We move on.