South Carolina guard Ta’niya Latson backed her coach Dawn Staley on April 5 after a clip showed Staley saying, “I will beat Geno’s a**,” during a heated moment involving UConn coach Geno Auriemma.
In an interview with the Sports Illustrated, Latson hailed coach’s leadership style.
“At the end of the day, she is a leader,” Latson said. “She is not going to back down from anybody, any challenge. I feel like that is how we go out there and we play for her. It starts from the top. We are reflection of her. I feel like you see it a lot in our play. We are not going to back down from anybody. She stood her ground.”
Auriemma and Staley’s fight happened with just 0.1 seconds left in South Carolina’s 62-48 win. When the coaches approached each other near the scorer’s table for the customary handshake, Auriemma appeared to yell at Staley. The next thing was the two began shouting back and forth.
Assistant coaches from both teams had to step in to separate the two.
Auriemma then walked straight to the tunnel without shaking hands with any South Carolina players or staff.
In a post-game interview with ESPN on Friday, Auriemma claimed Staley disrespected him by not meeting for the pre-game handshake at mid-court after starting lineups were announced.
Meanwhile, Staley claimed she was “of integrity” and confused by the outburst. She mentioned shaking hands with the entire UConn staff pre-game.
On Saturday, April 4, Auriemma issued an apology statement.
“There is no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” he wrote in the press release through the UConn Athletics department. “It is 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 have had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”
On the other hand, Staley declined to comment. She is focusing entirely on the National Championship game against UCLA on April 5.
Staley is chasing her fourth national title and her third in the last five seasons.
Meanwhile, this is the Bruins’ first-ever appearance in a National Championship game. They reached the final after a gritty 51-44 win over Texas in the other semifinal on April 3.
Ta’niya Latson Joined Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks Out of Hunger For Championship Title
In 2025, Ta’Niya Latson decided to transfer from Florida State to South Carolina because of her dream for a national title. She played for three years as the nation’s leading scorer at FSU without making it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
In post-game interview after Friday’s Final Four win over UConn, Latson acknowledged that joining a powerhouse like South Carolina meant a “personal sacrifice” of her individual stats.
“This is why I came to South Carolina,” she said. “It was a personal sacrifice that I had to make… This is my why. I’m just extremely blessed. We got one more, so I’m excited.”
Latson’s scoring average dropped from a nation-leading 25.2 PPG at Florida State to 14.6 PPG this season as she integrated into Dawn Staley’s deep rotation.
Besides, she also wanted to reunite with her high school championship teammate, Raven Johnson.
Latson and Raven Johnson led Westlake High School (Atlanta) to a GEICO National Championship together in 2021.
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