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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Kristen Wong

Paige Bueckers’s Cool Touch Pass in UConn’s Final Four Win Had Hoops Fans in Awe

Paige Bueckers UConn Final Four Huskies NCAA Bruins UCLA
Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles against UCLA Bruins guard Elina Aarnisalo (7) during the third quarter in a semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

No. 2 UConn took care of business against No. 1 UCLA in a blowout 85-51 win in the national semifinal in Tampa on Friday night, looking pretty near unstoppable as the Huskies eye the elusive NCAA title this postseason.

Paige Bueckers and the Huskies steamrolled the Bruins in the largest-ever margin of victory in women's Final Four history and booked their trip to the NCAA championship game, where they will face South Carolina on Sunday.

It marks the program's 13th national title game appearance and the second for Bueckers, who last reached the championship in 2022 and is missing just one final accolade on her sterling UConn resume.

Bueckers is the expected No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft for good reason, recently passing Nneka Ogwumike and Breanna Stewart to move into fourth place on the NCAA tournament career scoring list with 461 points. She's sitting behind only Maya Moore (476), Chamique Holdsclaw (479) and Caitlin Clark (492).

The redshirt senior had a relatively quiet performance in Friday's win with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting, but one of her passing highlights stood out from the game.

Just before the half, Huskies' Azzi Fudd threw a high pass to Bueckers down the court, who was heavily guarded by two Bruins defenders. Bueckers's quick thinking led her to make a cool volleyball-style set pass to teammate Kaitlyn Chen for an easy open layup.

Fans loved Bueckers's high-IQ play:

More March Madness on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Paige Bueckers’s Cool Touch Pass in UConn’s Final Four Win Had Hoops Fans in Awe .

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