What happened between Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma at that Final Four game last night?
TheGrio...
UConn coach Geno Auriemma got in South Carolina coach Dawn Staley’s face, supposedly over a pregame handshake.
What made South Carolina coach Dawn Staley say she will beat some a– last night?
This is what everyone is trying to understand after South Carolina defeated UConn in the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four matchup last night. As the clock ran out in the final quarter of the game, with South Carolina certain to win 62-48, UConn coach Geno Auriemma pulled up to Staley with something to say.
Getting inches from Staley’s face, Auriemma is yelling at the South Carolina coach. And Staley gives it right back to him. The two coaches were ultimately separated by assistants, and referees tried to restore order.
It isn’t clear what Auriemma is telling Staley in the moment, but you don’t have to have impressive lip-reading skills to see that Staley wasn’t taking the disrespect sitting down.
“I will beat Geno’s a–,” she said after the two were separated.
After the game ended, Staley told ESPN’s Holly Rowe she “had no idea” what she did to Auriemma to make him initiate the exchange.
“I’m of integrity. So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did,” Staley said. “I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff’s hand. I don’t know what he came with after the game, but hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.”
The beef was not only over handshakes. Auriemma also spoke to Rowe, lamenting a game he felt was called unfairly by the refs.
“There were six fouls called in that quarter, all of them against us,” he said. “And they’ve been beating the s–t out of our guys down there the entire game. And I’m not making excuses because we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous.”
He also commented on Staley’s sideline etiquette, saying, “Their coach rants and raves on the sidelines and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear. Come on man, this is for the national championship.”
Auriemma also issued a follow-up explanation to Staley in another postgame interview, addressing the handshake issue by saying that he “waited there for like 3 minutes” to receive a handshake from Staley before the game began.