Watch: UConn's Geno Auriemma, Players Tear into Controversial Call Versus Iowa - 'How to Ruin the Game'
Criticism of an offensive foul called late in Friday’s Iowa-UConn game flowed freely from UConn’s coach and some former UConn stars.
With Iowa ahead 70-69, UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards was called for an offensive foul after trying to block Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall. The officials ruled Edwards violated the rule that she had to remain still while setting a screen. That killed UConn’s hopes, as Iowa went on to win 71-69.
After the game, UConn coach Geno Auriemma wrestled with his emotions when asked about the call.
“There’s probably an illegal screen call that you could make on every single possession. I just know that there were three or four of them called on us and I don’t think there were any called on them.”
– Geno Auriemma pic.twitter.com/pSsHdZNsDP
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) April 6, 2024
“I mean, there’s probably an illegal screen call that you could make on every single possession. I just know there were three or four of them called on us and I don’t think there were any called on them. So I guess we just got to get better at not setting illegal screens.,” he said in a video on X.
Auriemma said the final score did not match what appeared on paper, according to The Washington Post.
“If you would have given me this stat sheet without the final score before the game, I would have told you we won the game,” Auriemma said. “They’re the highest-scoring team in the country, and we feel like if we hold you to 71, we should win that game. And we should have won the game.”
“They say the little things matter. but you find out in life there is no such thing as little things,” he said.
Auriemma held in his emotions better than some stars of past UConn women’s basketball teams.
“That’s a terrible call,” former player Diana Taurasi, who won three consecutive national championships at the school, said, according to the New York Post.
“We always talk about, let the players decide the game, especially a benign call like that where you really didn’t affect the player. They still got over the screen, it’s just tough to end the game like that. … You want players to decide it, and we didn’t get that tonight, which was disappointing,” she said.
“Wow, what an unfortunate time to call an offensive foul,” Taurasi said during ESPN’s broadcast. “Just know how to ruin the game. Oh my god, that’s terrible.”
Auriemma said not winning a national championship does not translate into having a losing program.
“The expectations at UConn are what they are because we created them. You know, somebody didn’t walk into our building and then say ‘OK, this is what’s expected of you.’ We put that all on ourselves now for the last 30 years, ” he said in a video posted to X.
“What pisses me off is that the minute we don’t win a national championship for a couple years, people think that our program now is less worthy of some others that have done it twice, or gone to the Final Four three out of the last four years,” he said.
“What pisses me off is that the minute we don’t win a national championship for a couple years, people think that our pgoram now is less worthy of some others that have done it twice or gone to the Final Four three out of the last four years.”
– Geno Auriemma pic.twitter.com/pCPZrKJ6wh
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) April 6, 2024
“So I think, it’s more rewarding on my end — not just to win a national championship, obviously we want to win a national championship every year — but people should talk about their own accomplishments instead of talking about what we’re not accomplishing. That seems to be the big story,” he said.
Auriemma said UConn is a force to be reckoned with year after year.
“We might not win a national championship but we’re right there when it’s usually being decided,” Auriemma said.
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