Cori Close, Dawn Staley avoid handshake drama as UConn tension lingers
PHOENIX — cori close was part of a much calmer scene before Sunday’s women’s national championship game, as South Carolina coach Dawn Staley greeted UCLA coach Cori Close before tipoff in Phoenix. The moment came after a tense Final Four weekend in which UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s outburst drew attention away from the court. Staley’s pregame exchange with Cori Close underscored that the championship stage was still trying to move past the noise.
Pregame moment keeps focus on the title game
Staley embraced and shook hands with Cori Close, then briefly chatted with her and the UCLA assistants before turning to the crowd and lifting her hands with a smirk. The exchange came before introductions, and neither coach walked to halfcourt again after the lineups were announced. That sequence stood in contrast to the controversy from Friday night, when Auriemma and Staley were drawn into a heated exchange in the closing seconds of South Carolina’s semifinal win over UConn.
For South Carolina, the calmer start mattered because the Gamecocks were entering the title game with a chance to win another national championship and extend their run as one of the dominant teams in the tournament. The focus, at least on the court, was supposed to stay on basketball. Instead, the weekend had already been defined by the handshake dispute and the emotional aftermath.
What happened between Staley and Auriemma
In the semifinal, Auriemma said he waited for what he described as a pregame handshake protocol and later confronted Staley in frustration after South Carolina’s 62-48 win. The NCAA’s tournament operations manual says the two coaches typically meet at midcourt and shake hands after starting lineups are announced. Auriemma later said the ending of the game was not handled properly and apologized to South Carolina’s staff and team.
Staley said the attention on the incident was disappointing and urged the conversation back toward her team’s performance. She said the distraction should not overshadow South Carolina’s run to the championship game. The situation remained a live storyline even as both teams and their staffs moved toward the final stage of the tournament.
Reaction from both sidelines
Auriemma said in his statement that there was “no excuse” for how he handled the end of the game and that the story should be how well South Carolina played. He also said he has had a good relationship with South Carolina’s staff and wanted to apologize directly. Staley, meanwhile, said she would stay focused on the task in front of her and address the incident later.
She also credited senior point guard Raven Johnson with helping calm her down in the heat of the moment. Staley said Johnson’s high-five helped break the tension and put things back in perspective. That detail added a human edge to a weekend that had already grown far bigger than a single exchange between coaches.
Cori Close, and what comes next
The pregame moment with Cori Close showed a different tone, but the larger backdrop still mattered. The championship game was unfolding in the shadow of a semifinal argument, an apology, and the kind of public scrutiny that can follow elite programs deep into March. For South Carolina, the immediate task was to keep the noise outside the locker room.
For Cori Close, Staley, and everyone else on the floor in Phoenix, the next step was simple: play the game and let the result speak. Even after all the tension, cori close remained a small part of a much bigger night, and the focus now shifts to what happens when the ball goes up.
