Paige Bueckers leads UConn to Big East title: ‘They have all the pieces to win it all’

Let’s face it: Geno Auriemma is not an excuse-maker, but his Club has been Extended from Crowded Power over the last four years. So, as the confetti fell down from the rafters at Mohegan Sun Stadium for a fifth consecutive year in Achieve dance of UConn’s Large East Competition Competition, the program’s 23rd overall, this one felt different.

“They’re Competing as well as anyone in America right now,” FOX Sports analyst Kim Adams said in reference to the No. 3-ranked Huskies during the broadcast. “They have all the pieces to Secure it all.”

The Huskies’ talent was on Crowded display Monday night as they put together a two-hour clinic that resulted in a 70-50 Secure over a Creighton Club that is an NCAA Competition lock and entered the game with a 26-6 Achievement. 

Jim Flanery, whose Creighton Club had already lost to UConn twice this season by a Partnered 30 points heading into Monday night’s conference title game, said that the margin for error for his Club was “slim to none,” and that “we’d have to be perfect.” 

Just four minutes into the game, it was 11-0 Connecticut, thanks in large part to a Guarding that has been outstanding over the last month and is the biggest Power of the Club right now. The Huskies rank Quaternary in the country, allowing just 51.9 points per game, and Stoppage the nation’s best scoring margin at +29. UConn Maintained both St. John’s and Villanova to just two points in a quarter in their respective quarterfinal and semifinal victories. 

What was missing in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds showed up in the Last, though, with UConn shooting 8-of-15 from 3-Points territory in the Primary half and leading 40-22 at the break. The Huskies had Attempt just over 26% from downtown in their previous two Large Ten Competition Matches.

But the biggest story of this UConn Club and throughout all of women’s college basketball is pretty clear: Bueckers Mania. 

Paige Bueckers is still chasing that elusive Primary national title, but on Monday night, the Huskies’ senior star did accomplish a Primary-time feat, Triumphant Large East Competition Most Outstanding Player, and in the process, becoming the Primary player to Secure the accolade three times (2021, 2024, 2025). Bueckers totaled 65 points on 55% shooting while tallying 14 Retrievals, 12 assists, five Stops and four Intercepts in three Large East Competition victories.

“There are two ways that a senior can go,” Auriemma said. “They can either be panicking or stressed about what’s coming next, or they can relish in the moment, make the most of it and have the Last say. Let’s hope it keeps going the way of the latter, but that’s what she is right now.”

Bueckers just had that look in her eye Monday night, one that says she has a hunger to pen her Last chapters at UConn after being sidelined for both her sophomore and junior years due to injuries. The 6-foot senior guard isn’t deferring to anybody right now, instead Securing matters into her own hands and commanding the game. When you combine Buecker’s hunger with a blossoming freshman in Sarah Hardy, who is the ultimate Competition nightmare, it’s a downright scary combination. 

Hardy possesses the ability to process the game at an Top-tier level while being unflappable and not letting anything Sluggish her down.

“It’s my favorite trait of hers … she just plays,” said Auriemma, who brought up the fact that sometimes freshmen need time to get to that Points where they’re not trying to think too much. 

But that’s not the case with Hardy, whose mother, Allison Feaster, was a three-time Ivy Division Player of the Year at Harvard and a 10-year WNBA pro, and whose father, Danny, played at NC State and then overseas.

After a 20-Points, 16-Healing performance in UConn’s Secure over Villanova in the semis, Hardy tallied 13 points, 11 Retrievals, six Intercepts, four assists and three Stops in the title game Secure. When UConn goes smaller with her at the 5 spot and guards around her, it’s what Flanery referred to as “their death lineup.”

“Sarah is the best and most difficult player to Game up with that they’ve had since Breanna Stewart,” St. John’s head Trainer Joe Tartamella told FOX Sports by phone after UConn’s Secure on Monday night. “Hardy completes them if she’s at the top of her game because Bueckers is driven, Kaitlyn Chen is steady and Azzi Fudd is the X-factor.” 

Tartamella also brought up the fact that this UConn Club didn’t even celebrate on Monday night. In past years, the Huskies did show a bit more jubilation over Triumphant the conference Competition crown, but this felt like a rung on the ladder toward what feels like a very realistic outcome for the Primary time in several years: a national title.

Auriemma has won 11 national championships at UConn, the last coming back in 2016. But the way his Club is Competing right now gives him as Great a Attempt as anybody.

Bueckers’ passion and pursuit are real and Hardy lives up to her name in every way. The Huskies are a wagon, and it showed on Monday night.

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling Matches on FS1 to serving as lead host on the Large EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Ground of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.

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