Dawn Staley wanted a Philadelphia brawl with Geno Auriemma.
The South Carolina women’s basketball coach said, “I will beat Geno’s ass” after her tense sideline confrontation with the UConn coach following the Gamecocks’ stunning 62-48 upset of the previously undefeated Huskies on Friday night in the women’s Final Four.
A courtside video captured Staley uttering multiple times rather loudly how she would “beat” the legendary women’s coach while those around her tried to calm her down.
The tense scene unfolded after Auriemma’s emotions got the best of him after his team’s pursuit of a second straight national championship came to an end
Staley, 55, initially angered Auriemma, 72, pregame by allegedly making him wait for the customary pregame handshake.
The two shook hands in a brief encounter, not expressing any warmth toward each other.
“No, I mean, for 41 years I’ve been coaching and, I don’t know, 25 Final Fours. The protocol is before the game you meet at halfcourt,” Auriemma said. “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.”
Auriemma’s anger only built while he believed his team got a bad whistle in the third quarter as South Carolina took control and he felt the referees let Staley do whatever she wanted on the sideline.
UConn ultimately had 17 fouls called against it to South Carolina’s eight, which translated to 22 free throw attempts for the Gamecocks to the Huskies’ six.
“Well, there was six fouls called that quarter — all of them against us,” Auriemma told ESPN. “And they’ve been beating the s–t out of our guys down there the entire game. I’m not making excuses because we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous.
“Their coach raves and rants on the sideline and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear. And now we get 6-0, and I got a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man. This is for the national championship.”
It all spilled out in the postgame handshake when Auriemma made a comment to Staley while pointing his finger to drive home the point in a shocking scene.
Neither coach offered much on the spat.
Said Staley: “I think that’s a Geno question.”
Auriemma added: “Why would I say it? I said what I said. And obviously she didn’t like it. I just told the truth.”
These two programs have become heated rivals in recent years and this only adds more fuel to the fire, especially since each has knocked the other team out of the tournament the last two years.
“We’re rivals,” Auriemma said, per Yahoo. “That’s about it.”