Former WNBA star Candace Parker didn’t hold back her feelings regarding Yukon Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma after his outburst directed at South Carolina’s Dawn Staley. Auriemma expressed his frustration over Staley’s refusal to participate in the customary pregame handshake before their Final Four matchup. Following the game, he confronted her at midcourt, which escalated to a heated exchange, prompting staff to intervene.
Parker, who was just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, commented on the situation the following night. She remarked, “Eventually, you start seeing people’s colors over and over again. It may create a gap in time, but the color will always be revealed. I think yesterday you saw color on both sides, right? But you want to receive it.”
Auriemma later issued an apology for his inappropriate language. In his statement, he acknowledged, “There is no excuse for my response late in the game against South Carolina. This is different from my job and our standards here in Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and team at the University of South Carolina. My reaction was unwarranted. The issue should be how well the University of South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to take away from that.”
Staley chose to sidestep questions about the confrontation and instead focused on the upcoming national championship game against the UCLA Bruins. She stated, “For me, there are no distractions at this point. I’m just focused on winning a national championship, that’s all. It’s a little disappointing. This is a sport, and sometimes things like this happen. I’m just going to continue to focus on my team and our ability to make it through this tournament and hopefully win another national championship.”
