PHOENIX — Dawn Staley and South Carolina are back in the NCAA Tournament title game after knocking off unbeaten UConn 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, Agot Makeer added 14 and South Carolina played stifling defense to beat UConn 62-48 on Friday night, ending the Huskies’ 54-game winning streak.
The Gamecocks have reached the NCAA championship game in four of the last five seasons, including three straight. They will be looking to win a fourth national title Sunday when they face UCLA.
“I thought our players just locked in once we built a little lead,” Staley said. “We got suggestions from coaches as to should we change our defense, start switching everything. I’m like, no, this is what is working. Let’s continue to do what’s working.”
UConn’s Geno Auriemma confronts South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and rips officiating in Final Four loss
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 floor. 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 teams did shake hands.
“I have no idea,” Staley said when asked what happened between the coaches. “But I’m going to let you know this, 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 half-court, two coaches meet at half-court and shake hands. They announce it on the loudspeaker, waited there for three minutes.”
Auriemma also was 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 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 fourth quarter, South Carolina scored five straight points, capped by 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,” Makeer said. “We were super prepared by all of our coaches. 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 went 4-for-16 from the field. Azzi Fudd had just eight points for the Huskies, making only 3 of 15 shots.
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 easily in the first four rounds. The Huskies rarely had been challenged all season, 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 teams combined to shoot 22-for-62 (35.4%) from the field and had 14 turnovers. UConn led 26-24 at the half.
Dozens of former Huskies and Gamecocks players were 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.
