UConn star Paige Bueckers hypes up Geno Auriemma, Sarah Strong and Ashlynn Shade for Big East honors

The annual conference awards are out and Paige Bueckers is having a blast congratulating her teammates. The UConn star took time out to congratulate Ashlynn Shade, Sarah Strong, and coach Geno Auriemma and through her Instagram stories on Thursday.

Shade has been named the best sixth woman in the Big East this season, Auriemma has clinched the Coach of the Year honors while Strong took home the best freshman award. Bueckers added cowboy emojis to Shade's feature, thumbs-up for Strong and goats for the coach.

Bueckers congratulates her teammates and coach for Big East annual awards | via @paigebueckers/ig

Geno Auriemma led the UConn Huskies to a 28-3 (18-0) record, which included contests against eight ranked opponents and five neutral site games. He co-shares the honor with Marquette's Cara Consuegra after she led the program to a 20-win season under 28 games, the second-fastest time by a first-year school coach. She now becomes just the fourth Golden Eagles coach with the conference award.

Sarah Strong established herself as a legit two-way player and the future of the Huskies this year. She spearheaded the team to victories when Paige Bueckers struggled from the floor or sat out due to an injury.

Ashlynn Shade was the fourth-leading scorer for UConn this season at 8.3 PPG and the second-best when it came to 3-point shooting (43.8%). The sophomore only started 12 of the 31 games for Auriemma, constantly providing a scoring boost from the bench. Shade scored in double digits 10 times and had nine games where she shot better than 65% from the field.

Shade's best game came against Audi Crooks' Iowa State, where she posted 27 points and four assists on 76.9% shooting.

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Paige Bueckers takes home her third Player of the Year award

Paige Bueckers has a stretch of poor shooting this season and also struggled with inconsistency. However, the UConn guard was still named the 2025 Big East Player of the Year. Bueckers averaged 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 29 games for the Huskies.

She's now won the award for the third time in her career, joining Villanova's Shelley Pennefather and UConn's Maya Moore as the only players in history to achieve the feat.

Paige Bueckers, who is projected to be the top pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, can still opt into another year of college eligibility.

However, Buckers has previously said she plans to go pro after the season, so this upcoming NCAA tournament will most likely be her last shot at winning a national title with the Huskies.