South Carolina upsets UConn in Final Four, snaps season streak as endgame chaos erupts

South Carolina ended the perfect season streak for UConn, advancing to the Sunday national championship final with a stunning win.

South Carolina shut down UConn’s prolific offense on Friday night, April 3, to outclass the Huskies for a tense, 62-48 win in the Final Four.

After the game, the handshake moment turned into end-game chaos between UConn coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.

The UConn coach exchanged harsh words with Staley, forcing others to separate Huskies coach Auriemma from Staley.

Auriemma was upset with what she described as South Carolina’s physical play and the way officials called the game.

Just before the endgame chaos, UConn coach Auriemma told ESPN during the mid-game break, saying, “They’ve been beating the s*** out of our guys down there the entire game.”

The endgame chaos: what actually happened?

After the game, Staley spoke about the heated exchange with Auriemma.

Speaking to the outlet, she said, “I have no idea. But if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did.”

"I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn’t know—I went down there pregame, shok everybody on his staff’s hand. I don’t know what he came with after the game, but hey, sometime things get heated. We move on….”

Staley continued, “I’m super proud of our kids, I’m not going to let any incident take away from the performance on the floor.”

The UConn coach’s frustration appears to stem from an earlier pregame incident when he was left standing alone near the scorer’s table.

He was apparently expecting another handshake from Staley that never came.

But for the record, UConn’s coach Auriemma did share a pregame handshake with Gamecocks coach Staley and even patted her on the back.

After the game, however, Auriemma declined to explain in detail his version of the end-game chaos with Staley.

Addressing a postgame news conference, he said, “I said what I had to say. And nothing, nothing.”

The Gamecocks are now set to play their third national title final in five seasons on Sunday, April 5, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona.