Paige Bueckers Used One Word to Describe Geno Auriemma’s Spat With Dawn Staley

WNBA star Paige Bueckers shared her thoughts on seeing her former UConn coach Geno Auriemma make the headlines for his sideline spat with South Carolina’s Dawn Staley. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Paige Bueckers chose her words very carefully when asked about UConn coach Geno Auriemma getting into a messy sideline spat with South Carolina’s Dawn Staley in their Final Four matchup last week.

In the postgame handshake seen ‘round the women’s NCAA tournament, Auriemma was seen visibly heated on the sidelines and imparted some angry words to the Gamecocks coach after the Huskies’ 62-48 loss. It’s unclear exactly what Auriemma and Staley were feuding about, but the public nature of the tiff arguably overshadowed the game itself and soon became a national storyline.

Bueckers, who won a national championship under Auriemma in her final season with the Huskies, recently weighed in on seeing her former coach’s unflattering quarrel and called the whole situation “unfortunate.”

“It's unfortunate, just because there was so much good basketball being played,” Bueckers said, via TMZ. “UCLA had a dominant run, South Carolina was playing great basketball, [and] Texas was playing great basketball. And I feel like those should be the storylines. Obviously, the way that it was handled wasn't the best.”

When probed further about Auriemma’s relationship with Staley, the Wings guard said she wasn’t involved in the situation and couldn’t say for certain whether the UConn coach would be “forgiven.”

Bueckers’s ties to the Huskies no doubt still run deep: she apparently visited the team following their drama-filled elimination from the NCAA tournament, a bitter end to their once-perfect season and ambitious bid to repeat as national champs.

“Yeah, I went to go visit them and just tell them how proud I was of them,” Bueckers told PEOPLE. “... I mean, I've been there. I've come up short and it's pretty disappointing, but just to know how great of a season that they had and a great career that the seniors had, and that you can use it as motivation to come back even better.”

The Huskies’ Final Four loss snapped their 54-game winning streak and marked the third time an undefeated UConn squad lost in this stage of the tournament under Auriemma. South Carolina advanced to play UCLA in the national championship game and lost, 79-51.

What Geno Auriemma, Dawn Staley said about their Final Four feud

Auriemma’s beef with Staley allegedly resided in Staley snubbing the UConn coach during the traditional pregame handshake, Auriemma said in a press conference. Auriemma appeared to confront Staley about the snub postgame, which then turned into a bigger sideline dust-up. Auriemma also previously criticized the NCAA refs for what he viewed was one-sided officiating in favor of South Carolina during his halftime interview.

Shortly after the Huskies’ loss, Auriemma issued a statement apologizing to South Carolina for his actions.

“There's no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” Auriemma’s statement read. “It’s 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.”

He notably did not mention Staley by name, but later released another apologetic statement that addressed her specifically.

Staley, for her part, insisted on putting the unwanted drama behind them and urged everyone to turn the page.

“With the college women’s basketball season behind us, it’s time to move forward and close the chapter on how our semifinal game with UConn ended,” Staley said in her statement. “I spoke with Geno, and I want to be clear—I have a great deal of respect for him and what he’s meant to this game. One moment doesn’t define a career, and it doesn’t change the impact he’s had on growing women’s basketball.”

Per each coach’s statement, the two have seemingly talked things out and moved on, focusing instead on their respective programs in the wake of their brutal NCAA defeats. Auriemma is 9-6 in his all-time head-to-head record against Staley, but the South Carolina coach has gotten the best of Auriemma in recent history, winning six of their last eight matchups.

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