Paige Bueckers’ night ended in disappointment as her UConn Huskies fell just short against Iowa in controversial circumstances.
With UConn trailing by just one point with 3.9 seconds remaining, an offensive foul was called against Aaliyah Edwards for an apparent illegal screen on Gabbie Marshall just as the ball was passed to Bueckers.
We’ll never know whether Bueckers had a shot to win the game as she was being closed down fast, but in any case the Hopkins native was denied a shot at glory, with the referee’s decision drawing complaints from viewers and analysts alike.
Aaliyah Edwards offensive foul with just 3.9 seconds left in the game.https://t.co/2I6tOqsp9C
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 6, 2024
The general consensus seems to be that the ref shouldn’t have called it and the game should have ended on an actual offensive play.
But another angle of the play suggests that the referee was right to call an illegal screen.
Many videos of last night’s game-deciding illegal screen call are not showing Edwards’ feet. 😬 pic.twitter.com/USr2An8XzW
— Alex Conover 🏀📷 (@NorthstarAlex) April 6, 2024
Bueckers was magnanimous after the game, however, saying: “Everybody can make a big deal of that one play, but one single play doesn’t decide a basketball game.”
Iowa was able to run out the rest of the clock in a game in which Caitlyn Clark struggled to hit her fluent best thanks to some outstanding defense from UConn, particularly Nika Mühl, who later landed the three-pointer that got UConn to within a point.
Bueckers finished the game with 17 points, three assists and four rebounds, the joint top-scorer for her team with Edwards.
Clark made 21 points but the Hawkeyes were led by forward Hannah Stuelke, who stole the show with 23.
