When Geno Auriemma playfully trolled Paige Bueckers’ hair joke about him: “You don’t exert yourself defensively”

In Jan. 2021, UConn star Paige Bueckers interrupted her coach Geno Auriemma during his press conference. Bueckers said Auriemma's hair looks fluffy and fresh and asked him what kind of product he uses.

Auriemma took the opportunity to hilariously troll Bueckers' effort on the defensive end of the court in his answer.

"Um, what kind of product did I use? I actually don't have any product, but I noticed that it was getting really dry, so I thought I would try to use some of your sweat (referring to Bueckers), but I noticed you never sweat 'cause you don't exert yourself defensively at all, so that's probably ... it's a lot dryer than you think," the coach said. (0:14)

Bueckers responds by simply saying that it looks good, to which Geno Auriemma again has a priceless response.

"Well, why are you surprised?" he said. "When you get hair as nice as mine, you can have my product." (0:39)

At this point, Bueckers knows she has been truly outdone by her coach, so she just says "Okay, thanks, coach."

You can watch the funny interaction in full below.

Geno Auriemma and his Huskies outdueled by JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans

On Saturday, Geno Auriemma's UConn were beaten by Watkins and the Trojans at home.

It was an unofficial rematch of last season's Elite Eight matchup between the two teams that saw UConn grab the win and send USC packing, but this time around JuJu Watkins was determined to have the last laugh.

With five seconds left on the clock and UConn trailing by three, Paige Bueckers found freshman Sarah Strong on the perimeter. Strong launched a 3-point attempt but was fouled on the release by Watkins. The XL Center crowd fell silent as Strong stepped to the free-throw line with the game on the line.

Strong sank the first free throw but missed the second. On the third, she deliberately missed, creating an opportunity for Bueckers to grab the offensive rebound. Bueckers quickly passed the ball back to Strong, who launched another 3-point shot in a last-ditch effort to secure the win.

However, the shot came up short, sealing a 72-70 victory for the No. 7 Trojans over No. 4 UConn.

Reflecting on the game, Geno Auriemma acknowledged his team’s shortcomings.

"We just have to get better," he said. "We have to improve on the things we’re not doing well. We don’t look like them right now. We have to execute better, and tonight our execution in the first half was as bad as I’ve seen in years."

Despite their late-game rally, UConn couldn’t overcome their struggles, falling just shy of a dramatic comeback. The loss highlights areas for improvement as the Huskies aim to bounce back in their next game after the Christmas break against Providence.