UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma had to be separated from South Carolina coach Dawn Staley during the final seconds of the women’s college basketball semifinal game.

The two met up near center court for the routine postgame handshake. However, Auriemma got visibly angry. Staley isn’t exactly sure what happened.

“I have no idea [what happened],” Staley said. 

After the two were separated, Auriemma stormed into the locker room without shaking hands with the opposing team. Staley stayed on the court to shake every UConn player’s hand.

Agot Makeer led the way for South Carolina with 14 points. Maddy McDaniel also made solid contributions off the bench, despite not putting up eye-catching numbers.

Ashlynn Shade kept UConn in the game with 10 points. Sereh Williams had five rebounds and strong defense. 

With this win, South Carolina advanced to the championship game against UCLA. They lost the championship game to UCLA 79-51.

Tessa Johnson stepped up for South Carolina by scoring a team-high 14 points. Makeer once again made strong contributions off the bench, this time with 11 points.

Gabriela Jaquez, the sister of Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., led the way for UCLA with 21 points. Senior center Lauren Betts was also crucial with 14 points and 11 rebounds. 

Last season, South Carolina was blown out by UConn in the championship game. This season, they were blown out by UCLA. Although South Carolina can maintain a consistently good team, it has failed to compete with the best of the best.

The end of the game was not noteworthy. UCLA coach Cori Close shook hands with Staley without incident. 

UConn will lose Azzi Fudd to graduation. They will keep their leading scorer, Sarah Strong. Strong shot, four of 16 from the field against South Carolina. She will be entering her junior season. 

The Connecticut women huskies basketball team is back in the Final Four for the 11th straight year.

UConn vs. South Carolina women’s basketball game score

Coach Geno Auriemma’s top-seeded squad crushed No. 2 South Carolina — the defending NCAA women’s champions — 94-65 in Albany on Monday night, led by Crystal Dangerfield.

The team extended its own record for consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances, and broke a tie with John Wooden and the UCLA men’s team (1967-76) for the overall Division I record.

Last year, the UConn women suffered a last-second overtime loss to Mississippi State in the semifinals. The defeat ended a 111-game win streak and run of four consecutive national titles. Mississippi State lost to South Carolina to give the female Gamecocks their first-ever national title. Their coach announced they would not visit the White House despite being invited.

Next up for UConn will be a matchup against Notre Dame on Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.

“Every team starts the season saying that’s our goal to go to the Final Four. For us, it’s an opportunity to go back to where we felt like we didn’t really give our best effort,” Auriemma said. “We lost to a really good team. Happened in a way that was really, really disappointing. I know that we were anxious to go back and put ourselves in that same situation and see how much we’ve changed since last year.”

The Huskies (36-0) — the 2016 national champs — displayed some impressive three-point shooting on Monday.

Dangerfield scored 19 of her 21 points in the first half. Gabby Williams added 23 points as UConn finished with the most points in school history for this round of the NCAA Tournament.

“Tonight, my teammates did a great job of finding me when I was open and I was able to knock those shots in early,” Dangerfield said.

Katie Lou Samuelson scored 17 points and Napheesa Collier had 16 as UConn shot 59 percent (37-of-63) from the field.

Senior A’ja Wilson scored 27 points for South Carolina (29-7), but it wasn’t enough. Coach Dawn Staley acknowledged how great a team UConn is.

“We got beat by a really good UConn team,” Staley said. “We didn’t have enough to compete in the way we would have liked to. Now all is well in women’s basketball.”

The Final Four of the 2017 NCAA men’s basketball tournament has been set.

Ten Stats to know about 2017 NCAA Tournament Final Four Teams

The national semifinals will be held in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday, and will feature South Carolina — who defeated Florida 77-70 on Sunday — against top-seed Gonzaga, who beat Xavier 83-59 on Saturday.

The second game will see third-seeded Oregon — who surprisingly defeated top-seed Kansas 74-60 on Saturday — face top-seed North Carolina, who rolled past Kentucky 75-73 on Sunday.

Here are ten facts and statistics to know about these final two March Madness brackets:

1. UNC have reached their 20th Final Four out of 78 tournaments. Behind the Tar Heels in total appearances are Kentucky (17), UCLA (17) and Duke (16).

2. Only 657 people (out of almost 19 million) on ESPN predicted these four teams would reach the Final Four.

3. Very few people also doubted South Carolina would make it to the semifinals. Many more people in ESPN’s brackets had South Dakota making it this far, although the Jackrabitts fell to Gonzaga 66-46 in their very first game. Here are all the teams most people believed had greater chances of success in the NCAA tournament than the seventh-seeded Gamecocks:

4. Oregon’s Jordan Bell is a rebounding machine. The junior guard blocked eight shots for the Ducks last game, and finished with 13 rebounds (seven offensive), which gives him at least 12 in every tournament game thus far. Additionally, Oregon has reached its first Final Four since 1939, a tournament which the Ducks ended up winning. 

5. South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell could make NCAA Tournament history. The senior guard has made 32 free throws for the Gamecocks so far this tournament and is 23 away from the all-time record. Thornwell has averaged 10.7 free throws in his last three games, and needs to average 11.5 over the next two (assuming South Carolina advances).

6. Former Kanas State coaches represent half the teams. Frank Martin (South Carolina) and Dana Altman (Oregon) were both head coaches of the Wildcats at one point. Altman’s tenure ended more than 20 years ago (1994), but it’s still rather interesting.

7. South Carolina and the Gonzaga Bulldogs are both playing in their first-ever Final Four. This is the first matchup where both teams making their first national semifinals appearance play each other since 1973 (Memphis vs. Providence).

8. Gonzaga (36-1) is only the eighth team to reach the Final Four with one loss or less since the tournament’s expansion in 1985. None of the previous seven teams won the championship.

9. South Carolina had a tough road to the Final Four. The Gamecocks had to overcome three halftime deficits (Marquette, Duke, Florida) and did so by outscoring opponents by 54 total points in the second half. According to Elias Sports (via ESPN), South Carolina is just the fourth team to overcome three halftime deficits to reach the Final Four, with Georgetown the most recent to do it in 2007.

10. Chances of winning the tournament:

According to ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index, Gonzaga has the best odds of winning the NCAA title:

• Gonzaga 55%
• North Carolina 26%
• Oregon 17%
• South Carolina 2%

MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 26: Kennedy Meeks #3 of the North Carolina Tar Heels shoots in the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at FedExForum on March 26, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

This weekend featured several major upsets of top-seeded teams by underdogs in the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and one of the big ones was on Sunday.

NCAA Tournament Weekend Recap: Top-seed Villanova Falls to Wisconsin, Gonzaga Beats Northwestern

The seventh-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the second-seeded Duke Blue Devils (28-9) 88-81.

South Carolina (24-10), who has often been mocked by some, will next travel to New York to play in the tournament’s Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden. The Gamecocks will face third-seeded Baylor, who beat Southern Cal 82-78 earlier Sunday.

Sindarius Thornwell contributed 24 points for the Gamecocks, Chris Silva scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and Duane Notice had 17 points, 14 in a 65-point second half, as South Carolina rallied from 10 points down.

The 65 points were the most allowed in a half by the Mike Krzyzewski-led Blue Devils.

South Carolina managed only 20 percent shooting in the first half despite the win.

“I told the guys at halftime, someone’s got to have the courage and make shots,” Gamecocks Coach Frank Martin said.

When the horn sounded, South Carolina players, coaches and staff rushed to the fans at Bon Secours Wellness Arena to celebrate — a crowd that included Houston Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, a former Gamecock.

Duke was vying to reach the Round of 16 for the sixth time in eight seasons. The Blue Devils struggled to figure out the Gamecocks’ defense, however. Leading scorer Luke Kennard finished one-of-six for 11 points before fouling out.

The Blue Devils also tied a season high with 18 turnovers against South Carolina. Silva added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season.

Grayson Allen led Duke with 20 points.

Krzyzewski said the Gamecocks’ physical aggressiveness exhausted his team in the second half.

“That’s the most physical team we’ve faced all year,” he said.

One other seventh-seed defeated a second-seed on Sunday. The Michigan Wolverines (26-11) downed the Louisville Cardinals 73-69 for their seventh straight victory. They now head to the Midwest Regional in Kansas City, Mo for the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014.

Moe Wagner scored a career-high 26 points and helped create a furious second-half rally to propel Michigan to their second-round win.

Donovan Mitchell scored 19 points and Deng Adel had 16 points to lead Louisville (25-9), which had made the Sweet 16 in its last four NCAA tournament appearances. D.J. Wilson added 17 points and Derrick Walton Jr. had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals.

But Wagner ultimately helped rescue the Wolverines from a potential loss.

Trailing 45-36 with 16:09 to play, the German native scored on a layup to start a 17-6 run that gave Michigan its first lead since the opening minutes. And after Wagner’s three-pointer broke a 55-55 tie with 6:39 to go, the Wolverines led the rest of the way.

Inside the locker room, coach John Beilein squirted his players with a water gun. It was only his second win in five games against Louisville Coach Rick Pitino. 

The Wolverines made six-of-17 three-pointers just two days after setting a school record for three-pointers in NCAA tournament games.

Meanwhile, the second-seeded Kentucky Wildcats (31-5) defeated the 10th-seeded Wichita State Shockers (31-5) 65-62 for their 13th straight win.

“They’re young, but they have a will to win and play with courage and are skilled basketball players and great kids who share,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said.

The Wildcats’ three freshmen players all made big plays in the final minutes.

De’Aaron Fox had 14 points, including a late steal and dunk. Malik Monk blocked a shot and made two free throws in the final 13 seconds. Bam Adebayo had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and he finished it off by swatting away Landry Shamet’s three-point attempt as it left his hand with less than a second left.

“He pump-faked, and I knew he had to shoot it so I just went up and tried to block it,” Adebayo said.

Third-seeded Oregon beat Rhode Island 75-72, No. 1-seed UNC topped Arkansas 72-65, and another top-seed, Kansas, routed ninth-seeded Michigan State 90-70.

On Saturday, top-seed Gonzaga (34-1) defeated Northwestern (24-12) 79-73, while top-seed Villanova (32-4) fell to eighth-ranked Wisconsin (27-9) 65-62.