For the second consecutive year, South Carolina found itself on the losing end of an NCAA final blowout, falling 79-51 to UCLA on Sunday to mark the third-largest margin of victory in women's title game history.
The Gamecocks shot just 29% from the field and became the first team to lose back-to-back championship games by more than 15 points. The 28-point defeat came one year after UConn handed South Carolina a 23-point loss in the 2025 final.
"To get here is hard, to win here is harder, right?" head coach Dawn Staley said postgame. "Obviously we got smacked today. We got to figure out how we smack back."
NCAA Championship Loss Caps Rocky South Carolina Semifinal
The South Carolina loss capped an emotional weekend for Staley. The lauded coach dealt with fallout from Friday's heated exchange with UConn coach Geno Auriemma following the team's semifinal victory. In the incident, Auriemma approached Staley for a postgame handshake, then angrily confronted her face-to-face before staff separated them.
"I'm of integrity," Staley said following the altercation. "If I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did."
Auriemma issued a statement on Saturday, writing that he had no excuse for how he handled the game's end. However, Staley told ESPN she hadn't heard directly from the Hall of Fame coach despite reports he reached out.
"The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don't want my actions to detract from that," Auriemma wrote in his formal apology.
Staley spent much of Sunday's postgame praising UCLA coach Cori Close, who captured her first NCAA title in her 15th season. The two shared a long pregame hug that stood in stark contrast to the Auriemma dust-up.
"I'm always happy for people that worked hard in this game, who are really quality people," Staley said of Close.
Reaching six consecutive Final Fours demonstrates South Carolina's sustained excellence, but Staley and her staff face the challenge of breaking through if they want to claim another NCAA championship title.
