Dawn Staley took a pretty clear postgame shot at UConn head coach Geno Auriemma following South Carolina's loss to UCLA in the national championship game on Sunday afternoon.
South Carolina got smacked by UCLA in the women's national title game on Sunday. UCLA topped South Carolina, 79-51, to win the national championship. It was an epic win for the Bruins but a harsh loss for the Gamecocks.
Following the game, Staley, who got into it with Auriemma at the end of the Final Four game on Friday night, took a pretty clear shot at the UConn Huskies head coach during her postgame press conference.
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Staley, fresh off her feud with Auriemma, said that it was nice to lose to a good person like UCLA head coach Cori Close.
"Although we didn’t win, I can swallow it because we lost to a really good human being and a good team that represents women’s basketball well," she said.
That's a not-so-subtle shot at UConn's head coach if we've ever heard one.
Geno Auriemma has not reached out to Staley personally
Staley said postgame that she has not heard from Auriemma personally. He released an apology statement through the school on Friday night.
Auriemma and Staley were seen arguing on the sideline at the end of South Carolina's win over UConn. Auriemma appeared to feel slighted by a pregame handshake situation earlier in the night.
"There's no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina," Auriemma said in a statement issued through the school. "It's unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don't want my actions to detract from that. I've had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them."
