UConn coach Geno Auriemma explains postgame conflict with Dawn Staley ... sort of
The biggest story of Friday’s South Carolina-UConn Final Four game wasn’t the Gamecocks’ impressive upset win over the previously undefeated Huskies.
It was a heated postgame altercation between UConn coach Geno Auriemma and USC coach Dawn Staley prompted by Auriemma and stemming from frustration about how Staley handled a pregame handshake and coaches’ meeting.
Auriemma also caused a stir earlier in the game when he told ESPN’s Holly Rowe in a midgame interview that the Gamecocks were “beating the sh*t out of us” and critiqued Staley’s interactions with the refs.
“Their coach rants and raves on the sidelines and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear,” Auriemma said before the fourth quarter.
After South Carolina’s 62-48 win, a large portion of Auriemma’s postgame news conference centered around his end-of-game confrontation with Staley and his midgame interview. Here’s what he said ... and didn’t say.
Geno sounds off on Staley, refs after Final Four
The first question posed to Auriemma: What happened at the end of the game? As the question was being asked, Auriemma, 72, started shaking his head, indicating he didn’t want to talk about the moment.
“No, I said what I had to say,” Auriemma said. “Nothing. Nothing.”
He later indicated he was frustrated Staley hadn’t shaken his hand pregame.
“For 41 years I’ve been coaching. ... The protocol is: Before the game, you meet at halfcourt,” Auriemma said. “Anybody seen that before? The two coaches meet at halfcourt, and they shake hands, correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loudspeaker. I waited there for, like, three minutes. So it is what it is.”
Auriemma wouldn’t elaborate on what specifically he said to Staley.
“Why would I say it?” he said. “I said what I said. And obviously she didn’t like it. I just told the truth.”
But they shook hands already ... right?
Auriemma’s complaint that Staley hadn’t shaken hands with him confused USC’s coach. It also confused a lot of fans and observers, considering the coaches did shake hands pregame and there were photos and videos of the moment.
Auriemma wouldn’t specifically clarify if he was frustrated at how that specific handshake went or if he was talking about a different pregame moment.
“No, I think you missed the point of what I’m talking about, so I’d rather not go into it,” Auriemma said. “Anybody that’s been in the NCAA Tournament, you know what I’m talking about.”
Auriemma appeared to be referring to a separate pregame moment roughly three minutes before tipoff where coaches will shake hands again around the time starters are introduced.
Video captured by the ESPN broadcast (which was aired during the ensuing UCLA-Texas game) showed Auriemma waiting by the scorer’s table while Staley and South Carolina huddled as a team around that time pregame.
Sarah Strong’s ripped jersey
In his midgame interview with ESPN, Auriemma ripped the refs for foul discrepancy and specifically highlighted a moment when star UConn forward Sarah Strong had her jersey ripped at the end of the period.
“I’ve got a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn’t see it,’” Auriemma said. “C’mon, man. This is for the national championship.”
The only issue: Strong herself said postgame that her jersey rip (which prompted her to change from her usual No. 21 to a backup No. 55) was her fault. Video shows she ripped the jersey out of frustration after a missed shot.
“It was an accident,” Strong said. “I missed my shot. Ripped it by accident.”
But Auriemma doubled down on his insinuation that a South Carolina player had ripped Strong’s jersey postgame.
“She didn’t make a mistake,” Auriemma said. “She said it was a mistake. She didn’t say she ripped her own jersey.”
So a South Carolina player ripped it?
“No, I’m just saying there was not a single foul called on them in the third quarter,” Auriemma said. “I have a kid that’s one of the best players in the country and has got the ball a lot and is trying to get something done, and you mean to tell me there was never a time when she got fouled? Find that hard to believe.”
Auriemma: ‘Double standard’ with officiating
UConn ended the game with 17 personal fouls to South Carolina’s eight fouls. The Gamecocks shot 22 free throws, 16 more than the Huskies did (eight).
Auriemma said he didn’t regret his comments to ESPN’s Rowe midgame in which he complained about Strong’s jersey rip and how the refs officiated USC.
“I don’t have any regrets about what I said to Holly Rowe,” he said. “Why would I? ... There are a lot of things that happened in that game. Unless you’re on that sideline, you have no idea what’s happening on this sideline.”
Staley was notably frustrated with the game’s officials after South Carolina starting guard Raven Johnson picked up her second foul of the game early in the second quarter while hustling for a loose ball.
Auriemma was asked if that moment played into his later ESPN interview.
“I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard,” he said. “I’m of the opinion that if I ever talk to an official like that, I would get tossed. So I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard, that some people are allowed to talk to officials like that and other people are not. That’s it. So, yeah, I was pretty frustrated.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2026 at 11:03 PM with the headline "UConn coach Geno Auriemma explains postgame conflict with Dawn Staley ... sort of."
