UConn-UCLA takeaways: Paige Bueckers gets another shot at national championship

Here are some takeaways from UConn's win on Friday night. 

UCLA could not keep up with UConn's pace

It was very clear from the beginning that these two teams had very different styles of play and very different ideas on how to try and win this game.

While UCLA was trying to play a tougher, slower-paced game, UConn was happy to push the pace, play with tempo and put the Bruins back on their heels.

UCLA had no answer for any of it and found itself in a 20-point deficit going into halftime. It only got worse from there. 

This UConn team is loaded

While Paige Bueckers is the star of this UConn team, she is not the only player driving the bus. This is a loaded team that has multiple players who can all step up on any given night and take over a game. That was shown on Friday, as Bueckers did not really have her best stuff offensively.

She still finished with 16 points, but she was only 7-of-17 from the field and did not make a single three-point shot. 

Instead, the UConn offense was carried by Sarah Strong (22 points) and Azzi Fudd (19 points). That duo was also a combined 7-of-11 from three-point range. 

Overall, seven different players recorded at least five points for the Huskies.

UCLA had four players record at least five points. 

Paige Bueckers has one more chance to finally have her big moment

The only thing Bueckers has not accomplished in her collegiate career is winning a national championship. That is also really the only thing great players at UConn are measured by. 

When you go there as a women's basketball player, especially a top-tier player, a championship is the expectation. 

While she has helped lead the Huskies to the Final Four in every season she has played, she has only played in one national championship game, and it ended in defeat at the hands of their Sunday opponent — South Carolina.

UConn has not won a national title in the women's game since the 2015-16 season. That is the second-longest title drought in head coach Geno Auriemma's tenure with the program, topped only by his first nine years on the job. 

Stage is set for epic championship game

When it comes to a national championship game it really does not get much better than this on paper.

UConn and South Carolina are the two dominant programs in the women's game.

Auriemma and South Carolina's Dawn Staley are the two most prominent coaches and two all-time greats. 

They have already faced off in a championship game within the past five years.

Now they get to meet again for all of the marbles.