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Former WNBA star Candace Parker had no empathy for UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma after he lashed out at South Carolina’s Dawn Staley on Friday night.
Auriemma was upset that Staley failed 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 half court when the game was over. Staley yelled back at Auriemma as trainers and other staff members got between the two.
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Candace Parker, a member of the Amazon Prime NBA broadcast team, stands at the 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 Saturday night.
“Over time, you see people’s colors over and over again,” she said. “And there may be a separation of time with it, but the colors always come out. I think colors were shown on both sides yesterday, right? But you’ll take it.”
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South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma argue after an NCAA women’s 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 is no excuse for how I handled the end of the game against South Carolina. It’s contrary to what I do and what our standard is here in Connecticut,” the Hall of Fame coach said in a statement Saturday. “I want to apologize to the South Carolina staff and team. 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 good relationship with their staff and I sincerely apologize to them.”
Staley dodged 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, California on October 24, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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“For me, there are no distractions at this point. I’m concentrating on winning a national championship, that’s it,” Staley said. “It’s kind of disappointing. This is sports, sometimes things like that happen. Keep focusing on my team and ability to advance in this tournament and hopefully win another national championship.”
