TAMPA, Fla. -- In Paige Bueckers' final collegiate game, she will have the opportunity to clinch what she always dreamed of achieving at UConn -- a national championship.
The presumptive No. 1 pick in this month's WNBA draft, Bueckers and the 2-seed Huskies demolished No. 1 overall seed UCLA 85-51 in the national semifinal Friday, recording the largest margin of victory in women's Final Four history, to advance to the program's 13th national title game appearance. UConn became the first women's team in tournament history to beat a 1-seed by 30 or more points.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma said he was "humbled" by his team's performance.
"It's amazing how it played out," Auriemma said. "When you go in there, you don't expect, 'Hey, we're going to win by 35 points tonight.' I mean, that's, oh my god. That is just so, so unrealistic."
The Huskies advanced to Sunday's title game against defending champion South Carolina, a rematch of the 2022 tournament final that the Gamecocks won. UConn opened as a 5.5-point favorite on ESPN BET.
"It does feel like the two most prominent programs right now in women's college basketball are playing for the right to be national champions," Auriemma said. "And we both deserve it."
The Bruins finished the season 34-3 and bowed out of the tournament after making their first Final Four appearance.
"I just think we need to show up more prepared and ready to win. And that has nothing to do with the coaches. That's everything to do with us," said UCLA star Lauren Betts, who added that she thought the team's urgency and competitiveness was lacking Friday. "I hope this fuels us, and I hope that we come out angry after this."
Though Bueckers has long been the heartbeat of the Huskies, UConn's dominance Friday was initiated more from her teammates. Freshman Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd combined for 41 points, while Bueckers, who totaled 105 points in her three previous games, had a quiet night by her standards with 16 points on 7-for-17 shooting (0-for-3 from 3).
It's that talent and depth around Bueckers -- who has played in the Final Four each season she has been healthy and last appeared in the title game in 2022 -- that Auriemma has long said will give the Huskies their best shot at winning their 12th championship and first since 2016, when they four-peated.
"Going into this weekend, we felt we had the best opportunity [to win a championship] that we could have in the last five, six years, seven years, maybe, and that it wasn't relying all on one person and that person had to play an exceptionally outstanding game in order for us to win it all," Auriemma said. "If Paige has the kind of game that she had today in the previous couple of years, it would be almost impossible for us to win. And yet today look what happened. So we have more pieces. That obviously has the majority of the reason why we're here."
The game was effectively over in the first half, when UConn dominated on both ends and took a 42-22 halftime lead. On the night, the Huskies swarmed the Bruins defensively, forcing 19 turnovers (including 14 in the first half), and sought to shut down all players aside from Betts.
The plan worked. Betts, a first-team All-American and the defensive player of the year, paced UCLA with 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting, but none of her teammates finished with more than eight points. The Bruins hit four of their 16 3-point attempts and managed just 14 points outside the paint.
"I don't think we made a mistake the entire evening, especially on the defensive end," Auriemma said.
The Huskies' offense flowed most of the way, particularly in transition. The most jaw-dropping moment came late in the second quarter, when UConn came away with a steal and Fudd fed a downcourt pass to Bueckers, who delivered a volleyball-like touch pass to Kaitlyn Chen for a layup to put the Huskies up 39-22.
"We were just all over the place," UCLA's Angela Dugalic said. "They just picked us apart however they wanted."
The Huskies kept their foot on the gas from there, and the Bruins had no response. UCLA cut the deficit below 20 points for only 41 seconds in the second half.
"[We were] being aggressive, making sure we're playing a full 40 minutes of aggressive UConn team basketball," Fudd said.
After an off night in the Elite Eight -- when she started 0-for-9 from the field and scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter -- Fudd delivered on her promise to leave that poor shooting in Spokane, Washington. Aggressive from the tip, she put up 19 first-half points, nearly matching the Bruins' total in the first 20 minutes. The Huskies improved to 25-1 in Fudd's career when she scores 15 or more.
"When you think about how much basketball she's missed in her career at UConn, she hasn't had those opportunities to flip the switch," Auriemma said, referring to injuries that kept Fudd out the majority of the previous two seasons. "I guess you shouldn't expect that from someone who hasn't had that many reps. You've got to be in live-action game stuff.
"So the more games she's played now -- high-level, like this level game, Final Four consequences, you don't play great, season's over -- she's a competitor. She's a tough kid, and she loves to compete. And tonight was Azzi Fudd's [night]."
Appearing in her first Final Four game, Strong carried the Huskies in the second half, scoring 14 of her 22 points. She became the third UConn freshman with at least 20 points in a Final Four game, joining Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart. By the end of the third quarter, she and Fudd had as many combined points as UCLA (37).
With Bueckers notching 10 of her 16 points in the second half, UConn's big three ultimately outscored UCLA 57-51.
"We knew coming in we didn't think we played our best team game yet," Bueckers said. "We've had some great individual performances, but to be able to put it all together on a night like this where we're playing against a really good UCLA team, it's very rewarding. It's the kind of basketball that we want to play."
The team success extended to the defensive end, as major contributions from Jana El Alfy, Ice Brady and Strong made life difficult inside for Betts even when she did get the ball.
"Lauren Betts is a problem. She's not an easy person to guard," Bueckers said. "So for them to play with the effort that they did tonight, the attention to detail and discipline, it was amazing to watch."
UConn will look to take that energy, discipline and effort into Sunday's championship showdown, a rematch after the Huskies beat the Gamecocks by 29 in February. But just as they didn't let up from their big lead Friday, they know they can't rest on any regular-season laurels either.
"We never get complacent with our performance," Fudd said. "Tonight was great. We'll celebrate it the rest of tonight. When we wake up tomorrow, it's a new day, a new scout, a new opportunity for us to play even better as a team."