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UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma expressed regret for his action at the end of Friday’s Final Four game against South Carolina, where he and Dawn Staley had a heated discussion.
He began speaking to her aggressively, before the conversation escalated and quickly escalated into a visible altercation. Auriemma said after the match that he was upset that Staley apparently did not shake his hand before the match (the two were seen shaking hands before the match, but Auriemma said he waited several minutes before seeing Staley).
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UConn head coach Geno Auriemma watches a play late in the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament Sweet 16 game against North Carolina in Fort Worth, Texas, March 27, 2026. (LM Otero/AP Photo)
“There is no excuse for the way I handled the end of the South Carolina game,” Auriemma said in a statement posted on social media.
“This is unlike what I do and our standards here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the South Carolina staff and team. My reaction was inappropriate. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I have had a great relationship with their staff and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”
Staley addressed the incident in an interview with ESPN immediately afterward.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma reacts to a play during the first half of an NCAA college basketball tournament Sweet 16 game against North Carolina in Fort Worth, Texas, March 27, 2026. (Julio Cortés/AP Photo)
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“I have no idea, but I’ll let you know this: I have integrity. I have integrity,” Staley said. “So if I did something bad 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 there before the game, shook hands with everyone on his team. I don’t know what we did after the game, but hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.”
Meanwhile, Auriemma expressed his displeasure with Staley and the referees during an in-game interview on ESPN.
“Their coach rants and raves on the sidelines and calls the referee names you don’t want to hear. And now we get 6-0, and I have a kid with a torn jersey, and they’re like, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man. It’s for a national championship,” he told Holly Rowe.
After the match, Auriemma refused to provide further details about the incident.
Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks argues with Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies during the second half of an NCAA Women’s Final Four semifinal game at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz., April 3, 2026. (Photos by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA via Getty Images)
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“I said what I had to say and…nothing…nothing,” he responded when asked what happened with Staley, refusing to tell reporters what he had said. “Why should I say it? I said what I said, and she obviously didn’t like it. I just told the truth.”
South Carolina ended UConn’s perfect season in what was a rematch of last year’s national championship won by the Huskies. The loss ended UConn’s 54-game winning streak dating back to last season.
