UConn's Paige Bueckers gets painfully honest on Iowa loss, Aaliyah Edwards foul call

The UConn Huskies program may be the most successful in the entire history of NCAA-sponsored women's college basketball. However, over the past six years, they have experienced an unprecedented drought, failing to win a national championship marking their longest drought since the late 1990s. Paige Bueckers was looking to lead UConn back to its usual ways of glory, but in the end, they fell short against Caitlin Clark's Iowa, 71-69, in the 2024 Final Four.

Losing is painful enough as it is. But the manner in which Bueckers and the Huskies sustained the defeat is enough to make a lasting impact that will stick with them for their entire lives. Many rued the fact that UConn's 2024 March Madness run ended on a controversial moving screen call that stripped them of the opportunity to take the lead with less than five seconds remaining in their heated clash against Iowa.

Nonetheless, Paige Bueckers was more level-headed about the controversy than most. The UConn guard, who is returning to college for her senior year, acknowledged after their defeat to Iowa that the game wasn't lost on their final offensive possession.

“Not one single play wins or loses a basketball game. … We should have done a better job, I should have done a better job, leaving the game up to chance,” Bueckers said, per Cole Stefan of The Daily Campus.

Indeed, UConn wasn't able to bring the same intensity they had in the first half to the second, allowing Iowa to go toe-to-toe in what was a nip-and-tuck second half. At the very least, Paige Bueckers has an opportunity to redeem herself, as she'll be returning to play one more season for the Huskies to try and snap their unprecedented title drought.

Aaliyah Edwards and the moving screen seen 'round the world

In a game with crucial stakes, the last thing anyone would want is for the referees to take center stage and rob the players of the opportunity to win or lose the game for themselves. UConn was unlucky in that Aaliyah Edwards was whistled for an offensive foul after she hit Gabbie Marshall with her elbow, preventing Paige Bueckers from getting off a shot that could have given the Huskies the lead late in the game.

Edwards thinks that the screen she set was legal, although that sentiment is to be expected from anyone on the Huskies' side.

“From my point of view, it was pretty clean,” Edwards said, per Al Butler of UPI.

At the very least, Aaliyah Edwards isn't the only one who thinks that the screen she set was “clean”. The vast majority of fans on Twitter (X) agreed with her, and even LeBron James disagreed with the call. It's additionally heartbreaking for Edwards that this will be the play that defines her collegiate career, as she is bound for the WNBA after foregoing her final year of eligibility.

UConn fall short in the Final Four again

The Huskies have exited five of the past seven women's NCAA tournaments in the Final Four. The manner in which they lost this clash against Iowa was frustrating, but head coach Geno Auriemma believes that his team put in enough of an effort to steal a win over Iowa, only for them to be rather unfortunate in the end.

“We put ourselves in a position to win a game we had no business being in. … Iowa won the game; we get to go on, and we get to go home,” Auriemma added.