Geno Auriemma Details How Paige Bueckers Can Be 'Her Worst Enemy' After UConn Loss

UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma discussed how Paige Bueckers can sometimes hinder her own offensive attack after Thursday's loss.

Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma reacts in the first quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team won't be going undefeated this season.

They suffered a 79-68 defeat to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Thursday in a game that the Huskies always seemed to be out of, despite only being down by as little as two points in the second half.

UConn (who is now 8-1 on the year) would have lost the game by much more if not for Paige Bueckers, who finished with 25 points on 11 of 20 shooting from the field and was the only consistent source of offense the Huskies had all evening (despite what fans might want to say).

However, Bueckers got off to an extremely slow start, as she looked hapless and seemed to be forcing shots in the first quarter to make up for her team's stagnancy on that end of the court.

And Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma alluded to this after the game.

“You have to take some of the pressure off of Paige,” Auriemma said, per an X post from @clrkszn. “Sometimes she’s her worst enemy, and she over-penetrates to try to get something in traffic and get to the free throw line."

geno: “paige is gonna try to carry a team by herself when she thinks there aren’t a lot of those contributions, and that’s not good for her. that’s not good for us.”

🤫🤔 pic.twitter.com/2xpUU0fpV8

— cc akgae (@clrkszn) December 13, 2024

“If you’re going to play her the way they played her, which is what she’s going to see a lot of, we need other contributions. And Paige is going to try to carry the team by herself when she thinks there aren’t a lot of those contributions, and that’s not good for her and that’s not good for us," he continued, per a December 12 article from Curt Rallo of the Associated Press.

There's no question that Paige was feeling the pressure to carry her offense on Thursday, which didn't necessarily translate into success.

Hopefully, Azzi Fudd returning from her knee sprain in the coming weeks will help the Huskies right the ship on offense.