By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer
PHOENIX — Dawn Staley and South Carolina are back in the NCAA Tournament title game after knocking off unbeaten Connecticut and Geno Auriemma in a physical contest that ended with a heated exchange between the game’s most recognizable coaches.
Ta’Niya Latson scored 16 and Agot Makeer added 14 points and South Carolina played stifling defense to beat UConn, 62-48, on Friday night, ending the Huskies’ 54-game winning streak.
The Gamecocks have now reached the NCAA championship game in four of the last five seasons, including the past three. They will be looking to win a fourth national title on Sunday when they face UCLA, which beat Texas, 51-44.
“I thought our players just locked in once we built a little lead. We got suggestions from coaches as to should we change our defense, start switching everything. I’m like, No, this is what is working,” Staley said. “Let’s continue to do what’s working.”
As the final seconds ticked down, Auriemma walked down the sideline to shake hands with Staley and had an animated conversation with her while pointing to the court. Staley yelled back at him as assistants from both teams separated the two.
When the clock finally ran out, Auriemma walked straight to the tunnel and didn’t shake hands. The two teams did shake hands.
“I have no idea,” Staley said when asked what happened between the coaches. “But I’m gonna let you know this, I’m of integrity. I’m of integrity. So if I did something wrong, 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 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.”
Auriemma didn’t want to disclose what he said to Staley specifically, but made it a point of saying he was annoyed about the lack of a pregame handshake.
“I’ve been coaching and been to 25 Final Fours,” Auriemma said. “Protocol is we meet at halfcourt, two coaches meet at halfcourt and shake hands. They announce it on the loudspeaker, waited there for three minutes.”
Auriemma was also upset that in the third quarter star Sarah Strong’s jersey was ripped, in his opinion because of South Carolina’s physical defense.
Strong said: “It was an accident, I missed my shot.”
UConn (38-1) entered the Final Four undefeated for the ninth time in school history, and for the third straight time left without a title. The Huskies also lost in the 2017 and 2018 national semifinals. This was the fewest points UConn had scored since putting up 49 points in a national championship game loss to the Gamecocks in 2022.
“Coach was pretty mad going into the half,” Latson said of Staley. “She was yelling ‘Meet the moment! Meet the moment!’ We couldn’t be scared to play on this stage, especially against UConn. I mean, they were undefeated.”
The Huskies and Gamecocks played last season for the title and UConn came away with an 82-59 rout for the school’s 12th national championship. UConn also beat South Carolina handily during the 2024-25 regular season.
Leading 46-44 a few minutes into the third quarter, South Carolina scored five straight points, capped by Agot Makeer’s 3-pointer to extend the advantage to seven.
Strong hit a 3-pointer to get the Huskies back within 51-47 with 4:39 left. The Huskies didn’t score again until Strong hit a free throw with 30.8 seconds left, after South Carolina had scored 11 straight points.
“I think our defense is pretty elite. We were super prepared by all of our coaches,” Makeer said. “I think we all wanted this really bad. We were just ready.”
South Carolina clamped down on UConn’s two stars. Strong, who was honored as the AP Player of the Year on Thursday, had 12 points and 12 rebounds, but shot 4 for 16 from the field. Azzi Fudd had just eight points for the Huskies, shooting just 3 for 15.
UConn had its worst shooting night of the season finishing 19 for 61 (31.1%) from the field.
Both teams had cruised to the Final Four, each winning in the first four rounds of the tournament easily. The Huskies had been rarely challenged all season long, routing their Big East opponents by record margins.
Facing their first real test in a long time, they had no answer.
The opening 20 minutes was full of missed shots and turnovers. The two teams combined to shoot 22 for 62 from the field (35.4%) and had 14 turnovers. UConn led 26-24 at the half.
There were dozens of former Huskies and Gamecocks players in the crowd including Diana Taurasi, Paige Bueckers and Aliyah Boston. Boston was sitting next to Flavor Flav, who is a huge supporter of women’s sports.
AURIEMMA UNHAPPY
Auriemma was not a happy man. With the officiating. With his team’s performance. With Staley.
The Huskies coach ripped into the officiating during a live TV interview and then had a heated argument with Staley in the final seconds of their 62-48 loss to the Gamecocks. But a rough night for Strong and Fudd was the main cause of the Huskies’ poor showing.
A minute after his sideline blowup, Auriemma stalked off the floor alone, stewing over the nightmare performance.
Fudd – a senior – shouldered the blame, saying she felt she let the team down.
“I thought some of our shots were a little rushed, some of our offense was a little rushed, out of pace,” Fudd said. “But when we got a lot of good looks, a lot of shots in our offense, shots that we are used to taking, we just didn’t hit very many.”
The Huskies hadn’t faced much on-court adversity this season, winning almost all of their previous 38 games by a lopsided margin. Once adversity arrived on Friday, UConn wasn’t able to respond.
Auriemma said the officiating didn’t help.
“There were six fouls called that quarter – all of them against us,” Auriemma said on the broadcast at the end of the third quarter. “And they’ve been beating the (expletive) out of our guys down there the entire game. I’m not making excuses, ’cause we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous.
“Their coach rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referee some names you don’t want to hear. And now we get six to zero, and I got a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man. It’s for a national championship.”
Auriemma wasn’t finished showing his displeasure. The 72-year-old coach walked toward Staley in the final seconds of the game before the two had their angry exchange, with assistants having to get in between them.
Once the game finally ended, Auriemma slowly walked off the court and down the tunnel without a postgame handshake with the Gamecocks. The players did shake hands.
UConn scored just nine points in the fourth, shooting 2 for 14 from the field. The 48 points were easily a season low. The Huskies were also dominated on the glass, with South Carolina holding a 47-32 advantage.
It’s true that it was a physical game. Bodies were flying under the basket for the majority of the night for both teams. UConn was whistled for 17 fouls, while South Carolina was called for just eight.
The problem for Strong and Fudd was they couldn’t hit shots even when they had a little space to operate. Strong was bothered by South Carolina’s interior size, with several of her inside shots rattling in and out.
“Well, sometimes we do forget she’s a sophomore,” Auriemma said. “She’s carried a huge load for this team. An awful lot falls on her. Tonight she’ll be the first to tell you that she is not proud of how her game went today.”
Strong’s teammates couldn’t pick up the slack. Ashlynn Shade finished with 10 points and Quiñonez added seven. Heckel missed a layup late in the game and the broadcast showed her starting to cry walking back down the court.
Teammates encouraged her and one even lifted her chin, but the damage was done.
