Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley have tense postgame exchange after South Carolina shock UConn in Final Four | NCAA Tournament 2026

UConn coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley got into a heated exchange on the sidelines after the Gamecocks beat the undefeated Huskies 62-48 Friday night in the semifinals of the women’s NCAA tournament.

South Carolina ended UConn’s 54-game winning streak and secured a return to the national championship game.

As the two went to shake hands with 0.1 seconds remaining, Auriemma appeared to go to shake Staley’s hand and began yelling in his direction. Staley responded in his own words. The assistant coaches went to calm both teams down and UConn turned the ball over to end the game.

Staley went to shake hands with UConn staff members while Auriemma walked toward the tunnel without shaking hands with any South Carolina players or coaches. Players from both teams shook hands before UConn players sprinted down the tunnel.

“I have integrity. So if I did something bad to Geno, I had no idea what I did,” Staley told ESPN’s Holly Rowe during the postgame interview. “I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the start of the game. I went there before the game, shook hands with everyone on his team. I don’t know what he came with after the game, but hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.”

Neither coach gave much information about the trade in their postgame press conferences.

“You can ask Geno,” Staley said. “He started the conversation. I don’t want what happened there to detract from what we were able to accomplish today.”

“It was nothing,” Auriemma said. “I said what I had to say. It was nothing. Nothing.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Auriemma gave a heated interview to Rowe mid-game, expressing his frustration with the officiating.

“There were six fouls reported [third] quarter, all against us. And they beat our guys there the whole game. And I’m not making excuses, we didn’t manage to shoot, but it’s ridiculous. Their coach is ranting and raving on the sidelines and calling the ref names you don’t want to hear, and now we’re down six to zero and I have a kid with a torn jersey and [the referees] say “I didn’t see it.” Come on, man. It’s for the national championship.

UConn star Sarah Strong said during the news conference that her jersey tore by accident.

Auriemma also seemed unhappy that she apparently waited to shake Staley’s hand before the match. While the coaches were photographed shaking hands before the game, Auriemma said he had to wait for Staley at midfield.

“Unless you’re on the fringes, you have no idea what’s going on in that area,” he said. “For 41 years I’ve been coaching and, I don’t know, 25 Final Fours. The protocol is before the game, you meet at half court. Has anyone ever seen that? Two coaches meet at half court and they shake hands, right? Have you ever seen it? They announce it on the loudspeaker. I waited there for about three minutes. So that’s what it is.

“I said what I said. And, obviously, she didn’t like it. I just told the truth.”

Staley, a three-time champion, and Auriemma, a 12-time champion, are two of the most respected coaches in women’s basketball. After UConn beat South Carolina in last year’s championship game, they met for a half-court hug.

UConn’s frustration boiled over after a brutal offensive night for the team’s All-America combo of Strong and Azzi Fudd. Strong, the national player of the year, finished with just 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Fudd scored eight on 3-of-15 shooting, including 2-of-9 from long range.

The problem for Strong and Fudd was that they couldn’t shoot, even though they had some space to operate. The 6-foot-2 Strong was hampered by the size of South Carolina’s interior, with many of her interior shots going in and out.

Bodies were flying under the basket most of the night for both teams. UConn was whistled for 17 fouls, while South Carolina was whistled for eight.

UConn (38-1) entered the Final Four undefeated for the ninth time in school history and the third straight time without a title. The Huskies also lost in the 2017 and 2018 national semifinals. It was the fewest points UConn had scored since scoring 49 points in a national championship game loss to the Gamecocks in 2022.

Ta’Niya Latson scored 16 points and Agot Maker added 14 points for South Carolina (34-3).

“Coach was pretty angry before halftime,” Latson said of Staley. “She was screaming ‘Meet the moment! Meet the moment!’ We couldn’t be afraid to play on that stage, especially against UConn. I mean, they were undefeated.

The teams entered the game as the second and third highest scoring teams in the country, both averaging over 87 points per game. It was a defensive battle.

Leading 46-44 a few minutes into the third quarter, South Carolina scored five straight points, capped by Makerer’s three-point basket to extend the advantage to seven.

Strong made a three-pointer to bring the Huskies within 51-47 with 4:39 to play. The Huskies didn’t score again until Strong made a free throw with 30.8 seconds remaining, after South Carolina had scored 11 straight points.

Trailing 26-24 at halftime, South Carolina opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run to take the lead. The Gamecocks extended the advantage to 40-30 – the largest deficit the Huskies have faced this season.

“I thought it was a performance that makes you very proud,” Staley said. “When they’re able to execute, you can see it as a coach. Sometimes the players don’t see it. What they did was just fill in all the gaps that were created. I’m just very proud of them.”

The Gamecocks will seek their fourth national title against the winner of Friday night’s other semifinal between UCLA and Texas.