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Sarah Strong refutes Geno Auriemma jersey rip claim: 'Ripped it by accident'

DR Lewisby: Derek Lewis04/04/26

South Carolina‘s win over UConn in Friday’s Final Four featured drama and theatrics galore. But something that does not appear to have been featured is evidence of Geno Auriemma‘s claim that South Carolina ripped Sarah Strong‘s jersey via foul.

The UConn head coach was furious during and after the game over the officiating. It boiled over when he ripped the officiating during his interview with ESPN‘s Holly Rowe. After the game, he even voiced his displeasure with opposing coach Dawn Staley, leading to a heated confrontation in the postgame handshake line.

During his postgame press conference, Auriemma reiterated his frustration with the foul disparity. He used a specific incident to make his point.

“I don’t have any regrets about what I said to Holly Rowe,” Auriemma said. “Why would I? I’ve been coaching a long time. I’ve never had a kid have to change their jersey because somebody ripped it, and the official said, I didn’t see it. There are a lot of things that happened in that game.

Sarah Strong throws water on Geno Auriemma’s claim

As it turns out, the officials were right not to see the jersey rip. Or at least, if they had, they would have seen Sarah Strong tearing her own jersey before having to switch to no. 55. Strong explained the incident after the game.

“It was an accident,” Strong said. “Missed my shot. Ripped it by accident.”

Auriemma did address Strong’s comment. However, when he did, he just added to the confusion.

“She didn’t make a mistake,” he said. “She said it was a mistake. She didn’t say she ripped her own jersey.”

When pressed further, the UConn legend almost walked back his comments, but not quite. Still, frustrated with the fouls, he pointed out the lack of calls once more.

“No, I’m saying there wasn’t a single foul called on them in the third quarter,” he said when asked if he believed a South Carolina ripped Strong’s jersey. “I have a kid who is one of the best players in the country, has the ball a lot, trying to get something done. You mean to tell me there was never a time when she got fouled? Find that hard to believe.”

Strong destroying her own jersey does not automatically delegitimize Auriemma’s overall foul claim. But it does mean he picked a poor example to cite, and he cited it twice. During his now-infamous post-third-quarter rant, he also noted the rip to Rowe while showing the first signs of his beef with Staley.

“There were six fouls called that quarter, all of them against us,” Auriemma told Rowe. “And they’ve been beating the shit out of our guys down there the entire game. Now, 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 referees some names you don’t want to hear. Now, we get 6-0 and I’ve got a kid with a ripped jersey and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man. This is for a national championship.”

Geno Auriemma okays physicality

So does Auriemma have a bone to pick with the officiating? Well, the refs whistled South Carolina for eight fouls, leading to six UConn free throws. Meanwhile, they caught the Huskies fouling 17 times, leading to 22 Gamecock free throws.

Clearly, there’s a difference there, but even Auriemma admits it could have been on them not the officiating.

“I don’t have a problem with the physicality of the game,” he said after the game. “I don’t. I think that the game is physical. I think we’re just as physical in a lot of ways as any other team that we play against. I don’t know that we were as aggressive and as physical as we needed to be on the offensive end, you know?

Maybe the calls were uneven. Maybe South Carolina out-toughed UConn. Whatever the case may be, the Gamecocks ripping Sarah Strong’s jersey isn’t part of that equation. At least not from the current available evidence — including Strong herself.