A lover of college basketball, Geno Auriemma watched the South Carolina-Missouri game live.

He saw the scuffle and saw the atmosphere at Colonial Life, but said after UConn’s 83-58 win against the Gamecocks he was shocked to see the comments thrown around about Gamecock head coach Dawn Staley.

“I watched in on TV. What happened before, after or during I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s unusual for the exchange of words back-and-forth using Dawn. You usually don’t see that. I was very surprised at that.”

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Staley and Auriemma go back a ways, with the two coaching against each other five times since 2008. Auriemma was an assistant on the Team USA basketball team that Dawn Staley helped lead in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and both have been involved with Team USA basketball in some capacity since 2000.

He didn’t work with the guards, which Staley was a part of, but the two were on the gold-medal team.

So the two know each other pretty well, which is why he was a little shocked to see Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk’s comments about Staley earlier this week.

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Missouri coach Robin Pingeon and Sterk after Missouri lost Sunday 64-54 that players were spit on leaving the court and were called racial slurs by fans.

Sterk said that Staley helped promote a hostile atmosphere. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey put out a statement Thursday about the incident.

“Competition among SEC teams is highly intense but can never compromise the expectation of respect between our institutions,” it read. “I look forward to meeting in person with both athletic directors very soon to reaffirm these shared priorities and expectations.”

It was loud and boisterous, but for Auriemma he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It was just another atmosphere he’s come to expect out of South Carolina or any other big college venue.

“It’s going to be loud; it’s going to be aggressive,” he said. “It’s going to be all of those things, especially when you’re playing the defending national champions and you just beat them. They’re not going to lay down roses and welcome you. I thought it was a great atmosphere.”

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Auriemma and Staley’s relationship will continue to grow with at least two more matchups between Connecticut and South Carolina on the docket. He also said there is mutual interest on both sides to continue the series.

Staley will also take over Auriemma’s old post as head coach of the women’s national team, which starts up next week with training camp in Columbia.

The two haven’t talked and Auriemma hasn’t given out any words of wisdom yet for Staley, but he thinks the national team is in good hands.

“Nobody can really give you any advice,” he said. “It’s something you have to experience for yourself. For her having played and coached at the Olympics, I think it might come a little bit easier for her than it did for me my first go-round.”