"I think that's the game I slapped you on your b*tt": Paige Bueckers recalls hilarious moment with HC Geno Auriemma during freshman season

Ahead of UConn's Final Four matchup against the top-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, Huskies star Paige Bueckers shared a lighthearted moment with her head coach Geno Auriemma.

Specifically, Bueckers was asked about going up against somebody she presumably knows very well (who, most assuredly, is Caitlin Clark) in a stage as big as the NCAA Final Four. In reply, the junior guard recalled a hilarious interaction between her and Auriemma during her freshman season. Here`s what she said about it in a recent press conference:

"I remember freshman year, obviously the bubble, I think it was a Sweet 16 game. I remember Christyn [Williams] having a really big game, [we`re] playing a great team game, I think that`s the game I slapped you on your b*tt. So that was a fun game."

Paige Bueckers' love tap on Geno Auriemma happened in the fourth quarter of that aforementioned 2021 March Madness game between UConn and Iowa. The Huskies were up big, and Bueckers handed it off to teammate Anna Makurat for a three to pad their lead even further.

She celebrated by slapping her coach's behind, eventually explaining in a following press conference that it was an "inside joke" among her and the team (via Business Insider). It was a reply to him trusting Makurat despite her recent scoring slump.

With a bit of encouragement from the coaching staff, Geno Auriemma put Makurat in and she responded by hitting two threes in eight minutes of play.

Apparently, Paige Bueckers' antics were her way of telling Geno Auriemma, "I told you so." And that was that.

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Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark`s first March Madness faceoff

Paige Bueckers fondly recalls the first time that she and Caitlin Clark faced each other in March Madness in 2021. As she said, it was a Sweet 16 matchup between her then first-seeded UConn and Clark`s fifth-seeded Hawkeyes.

The Huskies handily won 92-72 to advance to the next round, with the then-freshman Bueckers finishing with a near triple-double of 18 points, nine rebounds, and eightasssists.

On the opposite side, Clark finished with 21 points, three rebounds, five assists, and two steals. UConn's top scorer was indeed Christyn Williams (now with the WNBA`s Phoenix Mercury), who tallied 27 points in the victory. Back then, the Iowa star was already clearly starting to build her legend, but it wasn't her year yet.

Now, fast-forward to 2024, and Paige Bueckers meets Caitlin Clark in March Madness yet again.