ESPN pundit rips UConn's Geno Auriemma over heated incident with Dawn Staley

ESPN pundit Michael Wilbon teed disconnected connected UConn women’s hoops manager Geno Auriemma connected Monday, pursuing the coach’s outburst toward South Carolina's Dawn Staley connected Friday night.

Auriemma was seemingly frustrated with Staley’s deficiency of a accepted handshake earlier UConn and South Carolina played their Final Four game. South Carolina would yet triumph the matchup, but Auriemma and Staley had a heated speech astatine the extremity of the crippled arsenic they went up to greet each different erstwhile the crippled was over.

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South Carolina caput manager Dawn Staley and UConn caput manager Geno Auriemma reason aft a women's NCAA assemblage hoops tourney semifinal crippled astatine the Final Four successful Phoenix connected April 3, 2026. (Rick Scuteri/AP)

The UConn manager besides complained astatine halftime that Sarah Strong didn’t get a foul telephone contempt her jersey getting ripped. Strong aboriginal said she accidentally ripped her ain jersey.

Wilbon didn’t mince words successful his disapproval of Auriemma connected ESPN’s "Pardon the Interruption."

"I’m going to instrumentality the remainder of the clip to woody with Geno, who was blameworthy of not conscionable the handshake but the bogus apology and the fictional lies helium had a ripped jersey, saying the different squad behaved similar thugs erstwhile his ain subordinate ripped her ain jersey It’s the disgraceful behaviour of a massively insecure bully," helium said, via Awful Announcing. "It was petulant, it was classless."

"The fictional visualization of the ripped jersey is unbelievable. The apology didn’t adjacent code the idiosyncratic helium offended. We’re each taught to shingle hands astatine the extremity of a game, nary substance what happens. Maybe earlier a game. He couldn’t adjacent bash that. He wandered distant and past helium lied connected nationalist television, circular aft circular of interviews, and accused South Carolina’s players of doing thing his ain players did arsenic if we don’t each person television. And the apology, aftermath, each of it was disgraceful."

Auriemma released a connection connected the issue, apologizing for his ain behavior.

South Carolina caput manager Dawn Staley and UConn caput manager Geno Auriemma reason aft a women's NCAA assemblage hoops tourney semifinal crippled astatine the Final Four successful Phoenix connected April 3, 2026. (Rick Scuteri/AP)

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"There’s nary excuse for however I handled the extremity of the crippled vs. South Carolina," Auriemma said successful a connection posted to societal media. "It’s dissimilar what I bash and what our modular is present astatine Connecticut.

"I privation to apologize to the unit and the squad astatine South Carolina. It was uncalled for successful however I reacted. The communicative should beryllium however good South Carolina played, and I don’t privation my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a large narration with their staff, and I sincerely privation to apologize to them."

Staley took the precocious roadworthy erstwhile asked astir the incidental aft the squad mislaid to the UCLA Bruins successful the nationalist championship.

"I don’t privation – this is UCLA’s day, right? Let’s support it UCLA, them winning the nationalist championship," Staley told reporters, via The Athletic. "… We’re not going to damper UCLA’s time with it."

South Carolina caput manager Dawn Staley speaks during a quality league astatine the NCAA assemblage hoops tourney Final Four successful Phoenix connected April 4, 2026. (John Locher/AP)

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Staley has yet to afloat code the incidental and what she yelled backmost astatine Auriemma during their exchange.

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

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