Geno Auriemma Says He's 'Humbled' by Paige Bueckers, UConn's Final Four Win vs. UCLA

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma was extremely impressed by his team's 85-51 victory over UCLA in the Final Four on Friday night.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Auriemma said he was "humbled" watching the Huskies cruise to a win over a UCLA team that was the top overall seed in the tournament.

"It's amazing how it played out," Auriemma added. "When you go in there, you don't expect, 'Hey, we're going to win by 35 points tonight.' I mean, that's, oh my god. That is just so, so unrealistic."

The Bruins did a good job of containing Paige Bueckers in the game. She only finished with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting after scoring more than 30 points in each of the previous three games.

While Bueckers didn't turn in her best performance, Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd stepped up their games. The duo combined for 41 points on 16-of-25 shooting (7-of-13 from three).

Strong and Fudd made more threes than UCLA's entire team (four). Lauren Betts tried her best for the Bruins, finishing with 26 points and accounting for 55 percent of their made field goals (11 of 20).

UConn has won each of its five tournament games by at least 14 points. The 34-point margin of defeat was the largest for UCLA since November 2018.

Now, Bueckers will get the chance to cap off her storied career with a national championship. To do so, the Huskies will have to get by a South Carolina team looking to become the first repeat champion since Connecticut's run of four straight from 2012-13 to 2015-16.

These two teams met on Feb. 16 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. The Huskies dominated the Gamecocks 87-58 in what was tied for the fifth-worst loss by margin of defeat during Dawn Staley's tenure at South Carolina.

Bueckers recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists in that win. Fudd scored 28 points on 6-of-10 three-point shooting. The Gamecocks have won 12 straight games since that loss with an average margin of victory of 20.8 points.

The national title game between Connecticut and South Carolina will be played at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET