As Paige Bueckers walked off the floor in the national championship game, leaving the court for the final time in her UConn career, she shared a touching embrace with her coach, Geno Auriemma. With UConn holding a firm lead over South Carolina, Bueckers was set to achieve the feat that eluded her for nearly five years—winning the national championship.
Though Auriemma had won 11 championships over his coaching career at UConn, Bueckers had yet to do so. In her final college basketball game, she helped the Huskies capture the title, and her coach was there to embrace her as Bueckers got the perfect ending to her storied college career.
During their sweet hug, Auriemma said he told Bueckers, "I love you. That's all I could say. I love you."
When Bueckers spoke to ESPN shortly after, she joked, "Yeah, he told me he loved me and I told him I hated him."
The joke perfectly captured the relationship between Bueckers and Auriemma, who are often sarcastic or trade jokes about each other despite having a special coach-athlete bond.
"He told me he loved me and I told him I hated him. ... Nah, I love that man like more than words can describe."
— ESPN (@espn) April 6, 2025
—Paige Bueckers on what Geno Auriemma means to her 😅 pic.twitter.com/p6Y56P2qEP
In sincerity though, Bueckers said of Auriemma, "Nah, I love that man like more than words can describe. ... But it's because he's challenging me and making us all better in ways we never even knew we could. He always has our backs, that's the thing. Sometimes it feels like he's on you and he has nothing but bad things to say, but he always has belief. He always has your back. Just the relationship that we have, I can't even put into words."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Paige Bueckers Had Perfect Response to Geno Auriemma During Embrace in Title Win.
