UConn coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina counterpart Dawn Staley engaged in a heated argument in the waning moments of South Carolina’s 62-48 upset victory over Auriemma’s Huskies in the Women’s Final Four on Friday night in Phoenix.

With less than a second left in what had been a tense and physical game, Auriemma walked across the sideline toward Staley for what first appeared to be a customary postgame handshake. Instead, Auriemma confronted Staley and things quickly escalated from there with both coaches visibly angry.

Staley shared with ESPN’s Holly Rowe that she didn’t know what spurred Auriemma’s frustration, but the legendary UConn coach eventually walked off the court without shaking hands with any of the South Carolina players or coaches and didn’t even wait for his own team before exiting.

“I have no idea,” Staley said when Rowe asked her about what sparked the exchange. “But imma let you know this: I’m of integrity. I’m of integrity. So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did.

“I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn’t know, I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff’s hand, I don’t know what he came with after the game. But hey, sometimes things get heated, we move on.”

The final altercation was the culmination of a frustrating night for Auriemma, whose team came into Friday night undefeated.

The 12-time national championship-winning head coach was already agitated when he spoke with Rowe on the broadcast during a timeout at the end of the third quarter. During that interview, he expressed displeasure with both Staley and the officiating.

“There were six fouls called that quarter, all of them against us,” Auriemma told Rowe. “And they’ve been beating the s— out of our guys down there the entire game. And I’m not making excuses because we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous.

“Their coach ran some rage on the sideline and called the referees some names you don’t want to hear. And now we get 6 to 0, and I got a kid with a ripped jersey. And they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ C’mon man, this is the national championship.”

Strong, the women’s Player of the Year, went into that timeout needing to replace her No. 21 jersey with a blank No. 55 one. While any initial rips weren’t clearly shown on the broadcast, there was a replay of Strong ripping most of her jersey down the middle out of frustration before having to change it.

“It was an accident,” Strong said after the game when asked about the ripped jersey. “I missed that shot. Ripped it by accident.”

South Carolina finished 18 of 22 from the free-throw line, while the Huskies finished 4 of 6. UConn also shot 31 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line in the loss that spoiled its bid for a seventh undefeated championship season. The Huskies finished the year 38-1.

This story will be updated.