UConn's Geno Auriemma owns Final Four fallout: 'Five more seconds, you couldn't keep it in?'

Yahoo Sports3h ago16 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

UConn coach Geno Auriemma expressed regret over his heated exchange with South Carolina's Dawn Staley after their Final Four loss. He reflected on the moment, stating he felt foolish for not controlling his emotions.

Key points

Geno Auriemma spoke to the media after the Final Four loss.
UConn lost to South Carolina in the national semifinals.
Auriemma was upset with officiating and a pregame handshake.
He had a shouting match with Dawn Staley postgame.
Auriemma expressed regret over his emotional reaction.

Mentioned in this story

Geno AuriemmaDawn Staley

UConn HuskiesSouth Carolina Gamecocks

STORRS, CT — UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma spoke to the media on May 4 for the first time since the Final Four, when the Huskies lost in the national semifinals to South Carolina.

Auriemma was infamously upset with both the officials and Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley in the game's aftermath. The two Final Four coaches got into a shouting match on the sidelines after sharing a brief handshake. Auriemma said something to Staley and then the exchange got heated.

"You do things on the spur of the moment sometimes, but they usually come from things that have been building up for some time," Auriemma said to a group of a dozen reporters at the Werth Champions Center on UConn's campus. "When I walked into the locker room afterward ... you're just shaking your head going, five more seconds, you couldn't keep it in for five more seconds?

"I just feel like a dumbass for the way it played out. We are all human and we all do dumb s---."

At the end of a 62-48 win for South Carolina on, Auriemma was upset about the officiating and what he believed was a slight from Staley involving a pregame handshake. The winner of 12 national titles, the coach was asked if he saw the many conversations in the media and on the internet after the postgame altercation.

"I didn't see a lot of it, but (the fallout) is to be expected," Auriemma said. "Maybe some of it was warranted and some of it was people lying in the weeds waiting for that for that moment.

"It doesn't matter what you've done for the game, it's what you just did."

The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, with emotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.

That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women’s basketball’s most prominent coaches.