Geno Auriemma earns $25k bonus for winning Big East title

The UConn women’s basketball team claimed the outright Big East regular season title on Sunday by routing DePaul, finishing off the conference race in style with two games to spare. The win also earned coach Geno Auriemma a hefty little bonus.

According to USA TODAY’s Steve Berkowitz, Auriemma will get paid $25,000 for clinching the league title outright. It is his 28th regular season title as a head coach, with 21 of them coming in the Big East.

UConn has now won 11 straight conference regular season crowns.

The game against DePaul was never particularly close, with UConn leading by double-digits after just one quarter. Each subsequent quarter only served to further stretch out the lead, until the final score was 104-67 in favor of the Huskies.

It was star Paige Bueckers who got things rolling for the Huskies, scoring 30 points in the contest on 9-of-15 shooting. She finished just 1-of-6 from 3-point range but managed to go 11-of-13 from the charity stripe to help balloon her point total.

All five UConn starters finished with double figures scoring.

Aaliyah Edwards was right behind Bueckers with 23 points, while Ashlynn Shade chipped in 13, KK Arnold contributed 12 and Nika Muhl scored 10. Edwards led the team with 17 rebounds, while Muhl turned in eight assists.

UConn has two regular season games remaining. The team will be at home against Villanova on Wednesday night before traveling to Providence on Saturday.

The Huskies now sport a 24-5 overall record, with a 16-0 mark in Big East play. Geno Auriemma and UConn have not finished conference play unbeaten since 2020-21.

The team had previously had a streak of eight straight seasons with an unblemished conference mark (2013-14 through 2020-21) before that streak was snapped two years ago.