ESPN analysts Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter were very critical of Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma for his behavior during and after South Carolina’s 62-48 win over UConn in the Women’s Final Four on Friday night.
Auriemma went off about officiating and called out South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley during an in-game interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
“There were six fouls called that quarter. All of ’em against us,” Auriemma told Rowe. “And they’ve been beating the sh*t out of our guys down there the entire game. Now, I’m not making excuses, because we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous. Their coach rants and raves on the sideline, and calls the referees some names you don’t wanna hear. And now, we get 6-0, and I’ve got a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man! This is for the national championship!”
As the game was about to conclude, Auriemma got into a heated exchange with Staley and had to be held back. When the final buzzer officially sounded, Auriemma headed to the locker room while the teams were in handshake lines, and Staley was visibly frustrated about him in a conversation with a UConn assistant.
In a postgame interview, Staley told Rowe about Auriemma mentioning something during the exchange about Staley not giving him a pregame handshake. ESPN showed a video of Staley appearing to shake his hand before the game, but Auriemma claimed in the postgame press conference that she didn’t meet him for a handshake at half-court when she was supposed to.
It was bizarre behavior from Auriemma, and Ogwumike and Carter didn’t hesitate to call it out during the Texas-UCLA Final Four halftime show on ESPN.
Chiney Ogwumike, Andraya Carter rip Geno Auriemma for ESPN interview, Dawn Staley interaction.
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— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 4, 2026
“I say this respecting the fact that Geno is the winningest coach in college basketball history,” Ogwumike began. “His behavior does not sit well with me. I actually find it quite problematic.”
“Because, one, if you followed the game, he insinuated that South Carolina tore Sarah Strong’s jersey. We found out that, if you watch this video right here, it was moreso self-inflicted. It was not the Gamecocks,” Ogwumike explained. “Secondly, he called out Dawn Staley during his interview at the quarter. To me, I’ve never really seen a coach, especially with this magnitude in this stage… I’ve never seen a coach call out another coach when the other coach can’t hear them!”
“And last but not least, the way that he approached Dawn,” Ogwumike continued. “Normally, in these circumstances, I understand emotions are flying through, but he’s putting Dawn in a position where she constantly has to take the high road. I understand we’ve seen this in years past for Dawn. She will always advocate for what’s best for the game… I do not like the behavior that I saw. I know it was a tough night, but overall, that shouldn’t happen.”
“It was all handled so poorly on Geno’s part,” Carter said. “Like, actually shockingly so. Because you never really see Geno act like that.”
“You mentioned the interview with Holly, where he called out Dawn Staley, and then the postgame,” Carter told Ogwumike. “To me, it almost feels like, because it’s so bad and it’s out of line, it almost feels like it was on purpose. Because the fact is, his players got outplayed. The entire game, his players were outplayed. South Carolina’s players played better. But what are we talking about? Geno Auriemma against Dawn Staley. We’re taking attention off of the game, where South Carolina dominated, to talk about Geno’s behavior.”
Auriemma and UConn now go home, while Staley and South Carolina will face UCLA in the national championship game on Sunday.
