The South Carolina Lady Gamecocks stunned the UConn Lady Huskies 62-48 in the Women's NCAA Tournament on Friday to advance to the championship game. However, the spotlight has been on UConn's head coach, Geno Auriemma, and South Carolina's head coach, Dawn Staley, after the two got into a confrontation right at the end of the contest.
On Saturday, Auriemma shared an official statement regarding the heated exchange with Staley, according to Alexa Philippou of ESPN. The longtime Lady Huskies coach issued an apology to the Lady Gamecocks coaching staff and claimed his actions were out of line for his and UConn's standards.
“There's no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” said Auriemma. “It's unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina.
“It was uncalled for in how I reacted,” continued Auriemma. “The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don't want my actions to detract from that. I've had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”
It's not entirely clear what was said in the exchange with Dawn Staley, but Geno Auriemma seemed upset with something when the two went to shake hands at the conclusion of the Final Four matchup. Regardless, Staley and the Lady Gamecocks got the last laugh, as they will be competing for the championship on Sunday.
Since becoming the head coach of UConn in 1985, Auriemma has led the Lady Huskies to 12 championships, which is the most in women's college basketball history. The program's latest title came in the 2024-25 campaign.
As for the Lady Gamecocks, South Carolina has won three national championships under Dawn Staley. They could win their fourth title this season. South Carolina will take on the UCLA Lady Bruins at 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday.
