PHOENIX — South Carolina defeated UConn 62-48 in the first semifinal game of Friday night in Phoenix, Arizona to advance to Sunday’s national championship game.
In what was a close game for majority of play, with tough defense and aggressive play, the game ended with two legendary women’s basketball coaches getting into what looked like an argument as the game was concluding. As the final seconds were winding down, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley seemed to get into a heated debate.
These two teams are familiar with each other over the years of coaching, as both faced off in last year’s National Championship game when UConn came out on top. Here’s another angle of the argument from ESPN reporter Kareem Copeland:
In an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe at the end of the third quarter, Auriemma expressed his frustration with the lack of foul calls against the Gamecocks.
After the game, Rowe interviewed Staley on the court after the game:
In the postgame press conference after the game, Staley was asked by media to “shed light on the conversation with Geno after the game.”
“You can ask Geno the question. He’s the one that initiated the conversation. I don’t want what happened there to dampen what we were able to accomplish today,” Staley said. “The difference is, I mean, experience. I think losses, when you have losses that hurt, but you really understand the why, I think UConn was a really well-oiled machine. If you didn’t have disruption and consistent disruption, you allow them to play as freely as they want to play and shoot as freely as they shoot, they’re very efficient and very, very good. Our whole objective was to get them to shoot as inefficiently as possible, make them put the ball on the floor. Don’t give them as many catch-and-shoot opportunities. I thought our kids really locked into that.”
The first question to Auriemma in the post game press conference was about what happened with Staley at the end of the game. Auriemma responded with “I just said what I had to say. Nothing. Nothing.”
When pressed further about what was said with Staley and if he regretted any of his comments to Rowe in the interview, Auriemma didn’t hold back.
“I don’t have any regrets about what I said to Holly Rowe. Why would I? Why would I? I’ve been coaching a long time. I’ve never had a kid have to change their jersey because somebody ripped it and the official said, I didn’t see it. There are a lot of things that happened in that game. Unless you’re on that sideline, you have no idea what’s happening on this sideline. 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. 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.”
South Carolina’s defensive power
Led by SEC Defensive Player of the Year Raven Johnson, the Gamecocks put up a solid defensive performance vs. the Huskies. Having to go up against not one, but two Player of the Year finalists in Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, South Carolina was prepared for the star power.
Both Johnson, along with sophomore Joyce Edwards at various times had the defensive assignments of Strong and Fudd. Strong, who usually averages 18.6 points a game, was held to 12 points and Fudd had just 8 points, scoring under double digit figures for only the fourth time this season.
“Raven thrives on any matchup, right?,” said Staley. “Sarah Strong is not the tallest player that she guarded. We were put in the position where she guarded Kentucky’s big, Strack. We know she’s fearless when it comes to who she’s guarding. She takes really great pride in not look people to score on her. When you have a guard like that that has elite defensive skills, you let ‘em be great.”
Edwards had an impressive game on both sides of the court, finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds, two steals and a block.
“We just played great team defense,” said transfer senior Ta’Niya Latson. “I mean, we stuck to the scout report. I mean, Coach Mary (Wooley) did a good job in telling us what we needed to do. I feel like we all watched film. We were really locked in during shootarounds. We knew their tendencies, what they liked. I think we executed it really, really well.”
Another new freshman standout
Freshman Agot Makeer made a statement in Friday’s semifinals game as she was second in scoring for South Carolina with 14 points, behind Latson’s 16 points. In South Carolina’s Elite Eight game vs. TCU, Makeer posted a season high of 18 points. Makeer’s ability to run up and down the court was on display in Phoenix, as she finished the game with four rebounds, one steal and two assists.
South Carolina has been known to have freshmen step up late in the season. Back in 2024, it was Tessa Johnson who earned honors on the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team with 14.0 points per game on 58.8 percent shooting (10-of-17) in the final weekend of the season.
