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Former WNBA star Candace Parker had no empathy for UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma after he erupted at South Carolina’s Dawn Staley on Friday night.
Auriemma was upset with Staley failing to meet him for a customary pregame handshake before their Final Four game tipped off. His frustrations with Staley led to him confronting her at halfcourt when the game was over. Staley yelled back at Auriemma as coaches and other staff members got in between the two.
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Candace Parker, a member of the Amazon Prime NBA broadcast team, stands courtside at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., during the game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 22, 2026. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)
Parker, who was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame this week, spoke about the incident on Saturday night.
“In time, you see people’s colors over and over again,” she said. “And there can be a separation of time with that, but the colors always come to light. I think colors were shown yesterday on both sides, right? However you want to take that.”
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South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma argue after a women’s NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four in Phoenix on April 3, 2026. (Rick Scuteri/AP)
Auriemma issued an apology for his outburst.
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut,” the Hall of Fame coach said in a statement on Saturday. “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.”
Staley sidestepped a question about the interaction, saying she was focused on South Carolina’s national championship game against the UCLA Bruins.
NBA on Prime analyst Candace Parker is courtside during the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 24, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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“For me, no distractions at this time. I’m concentrating on winning a national championship, that’s it,” Staley said. “That’s a little disheartening. This is sports, sometimes things like this happen. Continue to focus on my team and ability to advance in this tournament and hopefully win another national championship.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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