Fans show love to Geno Auriemma as USC HC unravels details of their personal conversation from December

Lindsay Gottlieb and her team, the USC Trojans, crashed out of the NCAA Tournament after a 78-64 loss against Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight round on Monday at the Spokane Arena.

Gottlieb and her players were left heartbroken after the loss. During her post-game press conference, she narrated a story from earlier in the season. After USC's hard-fought win over UConn back in December, Gottlieb shared how she had received a text message from UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

"On December 23rd, we were on our Christmas break ... and I got a text from Geno two days after we had just beaten them and he said, 'Hey, I was just thinking about what a great win that was for you and your program, and I love your team, and hopefully we meet up in Tampa,'" Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb was visibly emotional as she shared this story. Once the clip from the press conference was published on X, fans started showering love on the UConn coach on the social media platform.

"Geno is a national treasure," a fan wrote.

"Great coaches on both sides," an X user said.

"Class act all the way," a fan wrote.

"Class act @USCWBB, great season, you'll be back," a college hoops fan said.

"Talk about class acts," another college hoops fan wrote.

"Ya’ll try to villianize Geno, but he’s the reason a lot of your fave programs are where they are," one fan said.

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Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies reach their 24th Final Four

The UConn Huskies secured a 78-64 win over the USC Trojans in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. With this win, they made an entry to the Final Four stage of the National Tournament for the 24th time in their program's history.

Geno Auriemma's team was led by Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong as they registered 31 and 22 points, respectively. Strong also amassed 17 boards and four dimes while Bueckers finished with six assists, four steals and three rebounds. Apart from the duo, Kaitlyn Chen also stepped up for the Huskies and scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting.

UConn will now take on No. 1 seed UCLA Bruins in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, April 4, at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Auriemma and his team will have to be at their absolute best to find a way past the Bruins.