Paige Bueckers: UConn’s Auriemma is ‘A Lot Nicer to Me’ Now That She’s in WNBA

Before Sunday’s game against Ohio State, former Huskies star Paige Bueckers told the packed crowd of UConn fans at the banner ceremony in Hartford that she missed them, but there’s one thing she doesn’t miss from her time with the school. Getting yelled at by coach Geno Auriemma.

As she told USA Today, “He’s a lot nicer to me now that I’m not a player there. We picked up right where we left off for sure.”

Bueckers, who led UConn to a national title in the spring before being selected first-overall in the WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings, has come back to Storrs multiple times since, both to celebrate the team’s 12th national title – such as for the on-campus banner raising and ring ceremony – as well as to help out the Huskies who are still on the team. The WNBA’s Rookie of the Year has also served as a practice player against her former teammates, and that’s what she was referencing when speaking of how her former coach – with whom she has publicly had a joking rapport for years now – treated her in the present. While laughing about it, of course.

“I was a practice player, so it was fun to kind of beat up on (Auriemma) and the team on the other side of things and not have to worry about him yelling at me. Just to be on the other side … you really feel no pressure. You’re out there just hooping having fun, and the other team is getting yelled at, so you’re not really worried about anything. You can just go be free.”

Free to, say, yell in place of Auriemma on her side of things. “I even had to yell at my practice squad teammates, because they were not locked in. So everybody can get it. Nobody’s safe.”

After losing their facilitator in Bueckers to the WNBA – she led the Big East in assists per game with 4.6 a season ago, while scoring 19.9 points per game – UConn has changed their style of play early in the 2025-2026 season, going for a fast-paced attack on both offense and defense, and, as shown against Ohio State, a focus on using their size advantage and depth to dominate opponents. They will get a chance to show how effective this new approach is on Friday when they play No. 6 Michigan at Mohegan Sun in the Hall of Fame Showcase.