Paige Bueckers And UConn’s Dominant Sweet 16 Performance Was Highlighted By A Butt Tap Heard Around The World

Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers faced off in the Sweet 16 on Saturday and the result didn’t disappoint. The nation’s top-two leading scorers, both freshman, played each other in the national spotlight and everyone was excited to see them go off.

They both had solid games, as Clark dropped a team-high 21 points and Bueckers finished one rebound and two assists short of a triple-double. However, it was the other Huskies who stole the show. Christyn Williams went for a game-high 27, Evina Westbrook came one rebound short of her own triple-double, and Aaliyah Edwards matched Bueckers with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

Clark and Iowa simply couldn’t simply couldn’t keep up with the nation’s top team and UConn rolled to a 92-72 win to advance to the Elite Eight. Bueckers may be one of the NCAA’s most polarizing players, but she’s actually a pass-first point guard and doesn’t mind playing second fiddle. Even still, she went for 18/8/9 on her own.

After all of the hype leading to up to the game, Clark and Bueckers shared a moment of respect as the clock ticked down, with the latter giving the former a little “good game” tap.

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It wasn’t her only butt tap of the night. After draining a triple late in the fourth quarter, Bueckers ran over to her sideline and got head coach Geno Auriemma while he wasn’t looking. He couldn’t believe it.

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The announcers joked that Bueckers pulled off something that even Diana Taurasi, who is considered UConn’s greatest women’s basketball player of all-time, couldn’t have gotten away with. That may be true, because Taurasi has called Bueckers “the best player in basketball,” and Auriemma has loosened up just a little bit in the later half of his career. With the win, the Huskies are headed to their 15th straight Elite Eight. Remarkable.