In the final seconds of UConn’s 62-48 loss to South Carolina in the Final Four on Friday, Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley got into a verbal altercation in the handshake line and needed to be separated by officials and their respective coaching staffs.

The fireworks started when Auriemma made a comment to Staley as the two shook hands at half-court. Staley took offense and the two began yelling at each other and were ushered back to their respective benches. Courtside video caught Staley declaring, “I will beat Geno’s ass.”

Since 0.1 seconds still remained on the clock, the two sides retreated and let the final buzzer sound. Auriemma walked directly into the locker room but the teams — including Staley — went through the handshake line a second time without incident.

Afterwards, Staley downplayed the interaction.

“You can ask Geno the question. He's the one that initiated the conversation,” she said. “I don't want what happened there to dampen what we were able to accomplish today.”

Auriemma, meanwhile, doubled down in his postgame press conference.

“I just said what I had to say,” he said.

The head coach’s frustrations were rooted in a perceived slight pregame. As the teams were introduced by the public address announcer, Auriemma had to wait for the customary handshake with Staley.

“For 41 years I've been coaching and [made] 25 Final Fours. The protocol is before the game you meet at half-court. Anybody see that before? Two coaches meet at half-court and they shake hands, correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loudspeaker. I waited there for like three minutes. So it is what it is,” he said.

Auriemma also took umbrage with Staley’s treatment of the officials throughout the course of the contest.

“I'm of the opinion that if I ever talk to an official like that, I would get tossed,” he said. “So I just want to make sure there's not a double standard, that some people are allowed to talk to officials like that and other people are not. That's it. So yeah, I was pretty frustrated.”

“It's not my place to judge whether any coach should ever get tossed,” he clarified. “I'm not suggesting that that should have happened tonight at all. Not at all.”

Auriemma spent much of the game frustrated with the officials. UConn committed 17 fouls compared to South Carolina’s eight. The Huskies also shot just six free throws compared to 22 attempts for the Gamecocks. After a third quarter in which South Carolina was not whistled for a single foul, Auriemma went off during an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe.

“There were six fouls called that quarter, all of them against us — and they've been beating the shit out of our guys down there the entire game,” he said. “I'm not making excuses because we haven't been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous. Their coach rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referee some names you don't want to hear, and now we get 6-0 to zero, and I got a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn't see it.’ Come on, man. This is for (a spot in) the national championship.”

ESPN later showed that Strong accidentally ripped her own jersey out of frustration. She wore a spare top with No. 55 for the entire fourth quarter.

UConn notably ranks 356th out of 363 Division I teams in free throw rate. The Huskies also shot a season-worst 31.1 from the field while Strong and Azzi Fudd combined for just 20 points.

After the game, Auriemma spoke to his relationship — or lack thereof — with Staley.

“We’re rivals. Yeah, that’s about it,” he said.

“We don't have a lot in common,” he continued later. “I mean, Dawn was my assistant on the (US) Olympic team and we've been coaching against each other for a long, long time. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what she's done in South Carolina. I remember when she got there, I mean, the program had basically fallen off the map. So for her to take her program and take it to where it is right now, I have a tremendous amount of respect for that.”