Paige Bueckers is often seen scuffling with referees over foul calls. Arms raised, expression of disbelief, you name it. But this doesn’t stop her from routinely pulling off heroics on the court. Still, her frustrations haven’t gone unnoticed, especially by her own coach. Geno Auriemma sees it too. He’s even called it out during his show on Fox Sports 97.9, saying she’s not getting calls. And the stats back him up.

This season, in nearly 70% of games, the senior has ended up attempting less than four free throws. The only exceptions were her matchups against ranked opponents: she went 3-of-4 against Notre Dame, 3-of-4 against Louisville, and 5-of-6 against Ole Miss. That’s it. Three games where she managed four or more attempts, all against heavy-hitting competition.

Now, those numbers might not seem that drastic at first glance, but they tell a bigger story. Talking about Paige during his show, he explained how her knack for making wild shots often works against her when it comes to getting calls.

“That’s always a point of emphasis, to get to the free throw line. Paige is the biggest whiner in America because she feels she doesn’t get the calls that she deserves. So she goes in there, throws up something crazy, and it goes in. Then she wants to know why she didn’t get a foul call,” Auriemma said.

He added that officials these days are hesitating, almost waiting to see if the shot drops before blowing the whistle, a trend he compared to European basketball officiating. “Part of it is they just expect her to finish. A lot of times what officials are doing these days more and more, you saw it down in the Bahamas, they are actually waiting to see if the ball goes in,” the NCAA winningest coach said.

And if you look at Paige’s numbers, the impact is clear. She’s averaging just 2.8 free throw attempts per game this season. It’s not just a Paige problem, either. UConn, as a whole, hasn’t been getting to the stripe much. The team has only recorded 63 makes so far this season.

Geno acknowledged this, saying, “We’re not going to the free throw line because we’re shooting a lot more threes than we did last year.” That was on full display in their game against Holy Cross, where UConn shot 14-of-31 from deep but just 4-of-7 from the free throw line. 

And despite all the noise around free throws, Paige Bueckers remains UConn’s cornerstone player. 

Geno Auriemma challenges Paige Bueckers after Notre Dame loss

After a tough loss to Notre Dame, the Huskies bounced back with a 79-44 win over Georgetown in their Big East opener. And Paige led the charge again, dropping 24 points while shooting 11-of-16 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Post-game, Geno wasn’t surprised by her brilliance but offered a bit of advice, saying, “I think she did today what I want her to do more of, just take that little pull-up coming off those screens and handoffs.” Reflecting on her performance against Notre Dame, he pointed out that Paige’s tendency to “force” plays to get to the free throw line had backfired.

 “I thought the other night she was forcing to try to get to the free throw line, so she was taking shots that were really difficult to make and wasn’t getting the calls anyway, so it backfired tremendously. I thought today she didn’t over-penetrate and put herself in a problem situation,” he asserted. 

It’s clear that Geno wants Paige to strike a balance, taking smart shots without getting too caught up in chasing calls. But free throws or not, Paige Bueckers is still lighting up the court as she has got her eyes set on one thing, which is her last shot at an NCAA title.