Paige Bueckers' relationship with Geno Auriemma is crystal clear after UConn final match

The bond between Geno Auriemma and Paige Bueckers was evident during UConn's final regular season game. Despite a 92-57 victory over the Golden Eagles, where Bueckers scored 19 points with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals, a candid moment between the two caught fans' attention.

As UConn led 70-42 in the third quarter, cameras captured Auriemma seemingly shouting at Bueckers for an on-court incident. Yet, the star player remained composed, absorbing the words of the legendary coach.

This interaction, even on her senior night, highlights Auriemma's deep care for his star guard. It brings to mind advice given to Bueckers by UConn legend Diana Taurasi, which she revealed after Taurasi announced her retirement from professional basketball.

"Mostly like - we've both gotten a lot of the yell ats from coach, good and bad," Bueckers said about her chats with Taurasi. "It was just like, 'He loves you. He's doing it to make you better. If he wasn't yelling at you, it'd probably be more of an issue than if he was. He always gets on the players who he sees the most in the most.' So probably that."

After the match, Auriemma opened up on how significant Bueckers' tenure at UConn has been for him, particularly as he pondered over her influence with the Huskies throughout the past several years. "Yeah that's what you want to happen, games like today where it's your game, it means a lot.

"You want to show your best version of yourself. It doesn't always work out that way. But sometimes it does, and for Paige this season has flown by so fast like they always do. But she's on the right track right now. You always want it to be special and I think today certainly was for her."

Another sign of the tight bond between Bueckers and Auriemma was evidenced when the former "forced" the latter into allowing her to take more control of the ball during games. Following UConn's triumph over Creighton, the pair discussed Bueckers' shift towards being more ball dominant, with the 23-year-old mentioning that it was a topic of conversation throughout the season.

"I think it kind of happened organically in games and in practice," she explained in her press post-match. "Like I would start to get the outlet more and Kaitlyn [Chen] and KK [Arnold] are very like accommodating and like to who's, like it doesn't matter, one out of three of us are going to be able to bring the ball up, make plays, distribute.

"But I think lately it's been more, sorry, more of me doing that. So it's just been, I guess, sort of a thing that kind of happened organically, but we always have conversations of how I can play make more, how I can get the ball in my hands more and be more aggressive in that way."

This article originally appeared on Mirror US