Geno Auriemma’s temper tantrum took away from the real South Carolina story

Geno Auriemma has solidified himself as a women’s college basketball giant and icon. Long before the millions of fans got wise and started tuning into women’s basketball, Geno was winning multiple national championships at UConn well before too many people were noticing. 

On Friday night, the Auriemma and the No. 1 UConn Huskies had a chance to win 55 straight games on their way to a second consecutive NCAA title game berth. Standing in their way was a No. 1 South Carolina team that despite losing twice to Texas this season, looked formidable so far in the tournament. 

Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley doesn't have much left to prove in terms of her being one of the greatest college basketball coaches in the game. Despite having to rebuild from last year's team that lost to UConn in the national title game, she successfully led her team to a sixth straight Final Four.  

South Carolina's offense had been the story in recent weeks, setting an SEC record in point differential (+161) through the first four games of the tournament. The conversation pregame centered around how South Carolina could score against UConn's iron-clad defense, one that gave up an NCAA-leading 51 points per game.

Instead, it was the Gamecocks' defense that stole the show against the Huskies. That is, until Coach Auriemma started throwing a fit, blaming everything but his team's performance late in the third quarter. 

In a low-scoring first half, the Gamecocks trailed 26-24 at halftime. In the third quarter, South Carolina started pulling away a bit. The Gamecocks went on a 16-4 run, and although UConn kept it a one-point game entering the fourth, Auriemma vented his frustrations to ESPN's Holly Rowe.

"They've been beating the s--- out of our guys down there the entire game," Auriemma said. "I'm not making excuses, 'cause we haven't been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous."

He added that one of his players—Sarah Strong—had her jersey torn. But ESPN cameras later showed that she ripped it herself, in frustration after missing a bucket at the end of the third. 

It then started to get clearly personal between Auriemma and Staley when he added that Staley "rants and raves" at the officials and "calls the referees some names you don't want to hear."

In the fourth quarter, South Carolina pulled away, continuing to shut down UConn offensively. The Gamecocks won 62-49 in a masterclass performance on defense, forcing the Huskies to shoot 31% and be limited to under 50 points for just the third time in 171 NCAA tournament games. Husky stars Strong and Azzi Fudd were held to just 20 combined points on the night.

South Carolina's Ta'Niya Latson led the way with 16 points, and true freshman Agot Makeer came off huge from the bench, adding 14. Joyce Edwards added 11 points and eight rebounds, with Tessa Johnson adding another 10 points. The Gamecocks out-rebounded UConn 47-32, in an incredibly impressive performance from South Carolina in knocking off the defending national champions. 

But no one is talking about South Carolina's huge defensive stand, or the Gamecocks avenging last year's defeat to UConn in the national championship. Instead, the postgame story no one can stop talking about is this heated exchange between Staley and Auriemma when they shook hands: 

Auriemma claimed that his issue with Staley stemmed from the fact that she did not shake his hand during the formal p.a. announcer introductions.

"I mean, for 41 years I've been coaching and, I don't know, 25 Final Fours," Auriemma told reporters postgame. "The protocol is before the game you meet at halfcourt. Anybody see that before? Two coaches meet at halfcourt and they shake hands, correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loudspeaker. I waited there for like three minutes. So it is what it is."

But ESPN cameras, as well as this photo snapped of the two coaches pregame, showed Staley did shake his hand, just not at the precise moment he was referring to. 

Despite Strong admitting to reporters that she ripped her own jersey "on accident," Auriemma again doubled down, claiming without evidence that her jersey was torn by a South Carolina player. 

"I've never had a kid have to change their jersey because somebody ripped it," Auriemma said after the game. "And the official said, 'I didn't see it.'"

Staley, in her Philadelphia native glory, was caught saying "she'll beat Geno's a–" afterwards, rightfully standing her ground. She told Rowe that she is of integrity, but she didn't know what happened between her and Auriemma. She admitted that sometimes things get heated, and she would move on. Staley directed reporters to ask Geno about what happened when asked further about the exchange postgame. Unlike the UConn head coach—who coached with Staley during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro—she opted to take the high road.   

Auriemma, the winningest head coach in women's college basketball history, can't say that he did the same. Instead of game-planning on how to adjust his offense against South Carolina's lockdown defense, he started blaming the officials late in the third quarter. 

He even started taking shots at Staley, one of the most respected head coaches in the game. A former Virginia and WNBA star, she's built South Carolina into a powerhouse, winning three national titles and molding countless WNBA superstars like A'ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, and Allisha Gray, to name a few. 

You would think that Auriemma—a champion of women's basketball for decades, who will finish his coaching career with a resume that likely won't ever come close to being replicated—would know better. Auriemma probably can tell better than any coach when his team is getting beat, and South Carolina was doing just that to his Huskies on Friday. 

Instead of owning up to that fact, one of the most decorated women's basketball head coaches of all time chose to make excuses and blame everyone else. It was embarrassing and disreputable, especially considering Auriemma is a damn 72 years old, mind you. 

Of course, this temper tantrum thrown by Auriemma doesn't define his legacy or what he's done for women's basketball. If he is wise, he might recognize that he was in the wrong and issue some sort of apology over the next few days. 

But let's not forget that Auriemma has brushed elbows with female women's basketball coaches before. Things got so heated between UConn and Tennessee that Pat Summit refused to play UConn as long as Auriemma was the head coach. He's thrown jabs at Notre Dame' Muffett McGraw and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, as well. 

You'd think that when going up against a head coach he's faced 15 times in the past in Staley, that he'd recognize when his team was out-coached and out-played and show respect when it's due. Staley has also won six out of the last eight meetings between the two, dating back to 2020. Instead of highlighting South Carolina's incredible performance against a UConn team that entered riding a 54-game win streak, we are all talking about Staley and Auriemma postgame. 

His antics take away not only from the game itself, and does a disservice to the phenomenal basketball that was on-court on Friday night. You should know better Geno, and everyone watching knows that.