As Geno Auriemma apologizes for his ‘uncalled for’ behavior, Dawn Staley turns focus to title game

PHOENIX — Geno Auriemma issued an apology on Saturday for his outbursts in Connecticut’s Final Four loss to South Carolina, saying “there’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game” and “it’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut.”

In a published statement, Auriemma said: “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.”

While he said he wanted “to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina,” and added, “I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them,” Auriemma notably did not apologize to Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley by name.

He had criticized Staley directly during an in-game interview with ESPN and again in his postgame news conference.

That context led to another round of rebukes from fans and media, some of whom also noted his past clashes with former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt and former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw.

When Staley took to the podium for her news conference Saturday, she again took the high road.

» READ MORE: Geno Auriemma’s confrontation with Dawn Staley overshadows her latest historic moment

“For me, no distractions at this time,” she said. “Concentrating on winning a national championship. That’s it.”

She did admit to some frustration that the controversy has taken headlines away from Sunday’s championship game. South Carolina faces another No. 1 seed in UCLA (3:30 p.m., 6abc), and a Gamecocks win would give Staley her fourth national title.

“Yeah, that’s a little disheartening, but at the same time, this is sports and sometimes things like this happen,” Staley said. “That’s why I’m just going to continue to focus on our team and their ability to advance in this tournament, and hopefully win another national championship.”

She added that she “won’t let my ‘bubble voice’ come out” with the media, as in putting a bubble around her team to keep distractions out. And there was a moment of levity when she invoked her North Philadelphia roots to show where she built that mental strength.

» READ MORE: South Carolina’s stunning win over UConn marred by Dawn Staley-Geno Auriemma altercation

“One, I had a praying mother,” she said. “Two, I grew up in the projects of North Philly, right? Philly: 215, 267 area code. So, nothing — nothing — can derail us, or me, from staying with the task at hand.”

The notes of emphasis in Staley’s voice got through, even some 2,400 miles from 25th and Diamond Streets.

“There are a lot of distractions that are placed in your life,” she said. “You’re either going to address them and let it overcome you, or you stick with the task at hand. I’m choosing to stick to the task at hand. At some point everything is going to be addressed, but today, this weekend, won’t be one of them.”

Staley’s players didn’t seem to be moved by it all.

» READ MORE: Dawn Staley didn’t want to play for Pat Summitt — ‘she’s too much like my mom’ — but didn’t mind losing to her either

“Yeah, things happen, and we’re not going to dwell on that,” senior guard Raven Johnson said. “We’re on to the next game. Really, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Sophomore forward Joyce Edwards said Staley “has a lot of pride, as she should. I don’t know what specifically got her upset, but she’s a powerful woman, so I’m just happy she didn’t back down.”

UCLA coach Cori Close said she’d texted briefly with Staley on Friday night, joking that “in a couple weeks I’d love to know the real story.” But beyond that, she didn’t want to take a side, being friends with both coaches.

“Those are two people, honestly, both Coach Auriemma and Dawn Staley, that have invested in me — I have had opportunities to grow in this profession because of both of them,” Close said. “So I’m going to let that be between them. But I will just say that this is a really competitive environment, and emotions are incredibly high, and this is a culminating event.”

She concluded: “I know them to be really good people, so I’m going to trust that when all the dust settles, that we just come back to that.”

From there, the questions turned to basketball matters, particularly the challenge of facing UCLA’s 6-foot-7 star center Lauren Betts.

The senior is a dominant force at both ends of the floor, as she showed again in the Bruins’ semifinal win over Texas. Though it was a 51-44 slugfest — Close said she “wanted to apologize” for what she called a “rugby match” — Betts had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and a game-deciding block in the final seconds.

Staley has coached a lot of great bigs in her career and coached against a lot of them. How does she think Betts stacks up?

“She brings about a great challenge,” Staley said. “One, because a couple years ago, you could be real physical with her and she would kind of back down a little bit. Now she embraces it, now she welcomes it, and she can play off of it so well.”

But as Staley said next, focusing on Betts too much brings another challenge. UCLA has a trio of veteran guards who score over 12 points per game in seniors Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez and graduate student Gianna Kneepkens.

“So you have to make a decision whether you’re going to double [Betts], whether you’re going to single-cover her, whether you’re going to triple her,” Staley said. “And then figure out how you’re going to scramble out of that and prioritize who, because they can shoot the basketball. She’s the focal point. And when your big is the focal point, it’s hard, and when you work inside out, it’s really hard.”

Staley has run a similar style over the years, with star bigs including Aliyah Boston — who was courtside Friday night — and Kamilla Cardoso. Now, Edwards and Madina Okot do the honors.

“What we have predicated on, my entire coaching career, is to be that way, whether we had 6-foot post players or 6-foot-7 post players,” Staley said. “Everybody’s challenged when teams work inside out. And Lauren just can see it all and is patient enough to read the defenses and pass the ball where it’s supposed to go or bet on herself.”