A passing grade for Bueckers

Freshman sets two UConn records for assists

Paige Bueckers’ short time at UConn has been highlighted by memorable season-shaping shots, from the dagger at Tennessee in January to the clincher at home against South Carolina earlier this month.

She has proven to be a clutch, lethal scorer and she remains that as March approaches. But the way Bueckers zipped the ball all over court Saturday in Hinkle Fieldhouse, pulling the Butler defense this way and that while setting up teammates for easy baskets, was truly representative of the player UConn knew it was getting long before her arrival.

“Paige is a pass-first guard,” coach Geno Auriemma said following his team’s 97-68 victory, during which his freshman point guard set two records unselfish in nature.

Bueckers had 14 assists, the most in a game by any player in program history. In 20 games this season, she has 130 assists, a UConn freshman record.

Bueckers hasn’t forgotten how to set the table while taking on the lion’s share of UConn’s scoring responsibility, leading the team at 20.1 points per game. The fact that she is shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 49.5 percent on 3-pointers has only further facilitated her ability to share the ball.

“If you can’t score, you can’t pass,” Auriemma said. “I love when these people say, that kid’s a great passer. Well, can they shoot? No. Well how many passes do you think she’s going to be able to complete if nobody is guarding her? If you can score and people have to guard you, now all of the sudden you have the opportunity to find people.”

Bueckers had 20 points on 8-for-21 shooting Saturday.

“That’s a lot for her, a lot for anybody on our team, really,” Auriemma said. “But they were shots you’re supposed to take. I guarantee you, those 14 assists, I bet you 10 of them she was more open than the person she passed to and just decided not to [shoot]. The biggest part is the mindset. The next biggest is, I can score. And then, I have the ability to make the play I want to make. It’s rare. Very rare. Rare whether you’re a senior or a freshman, high school, college pros. Doesn’t matter. It’s just a rare quality to have.”

Bueckers has vision. She is accurate. She makes chest passes, bounce passes, no-look passes, passes that make a fastbreak look like Joe Montana hitting Jerry Rice in stride. She also makes many short passes — some simple, some flashy — like the one to a trailing Aaliyah Edwards with 5:52 remaining to tie the single-game record Saturday. With 2:41 left, she broke it with another feed to Edwards.

“I couldn’t make a shot,” Bueckers said of a cold start. “I had no choice but to get everybody involved and get other people open shots because I wasn’t making any. That was sort of my mindset.”

Actually, it always is. “That’s just always been who I am, just a pass-first player trying to get everybody else involved,” she said. “Me starting to be more aggressive at the start of games, looking for my shot more, helps so the defense focuses on my scoring and then I get other people involved.”

The previous singlegame record for assists was 13, held by Susie Sturman (vs. Vermont in Feb. 1980), Laura Lishness (vs. Seton Hall in Jan 1991) and Renee Montgomery (vs. Oklahoma in Nov. 2008).

Bueckers passed two players who previously shared the record for most assists by a freshman. Pam Webber had 123 in 1991-92 and Montgomery matched that total in 200506.

Sue Bird holds the program record for assists in a season with 231 in 200102, followed by Crystal Dangerfield with 225 in 2018-19 and Jen Rizzotti with 222 in 1995-96.

“We certainly have had some freshmen that were pretty darn good with the ball in their hands,” Auriemma said. “A lot of times, maybe they didn’t play enough minutes because we just had so many good players. Or we had so many other players that were good passers that all the assists were spread out. But all that aside, you’ve seen some of the things Paige does with the ball and … if somebody told you she’s a senior, you wouldn’t be surprised. She plays like one. She handles the ball like one. She sees the floor like one.”

Bueckers’ previous high for assists was 12 Jan. 31 against DePaul. She had nine assists in the first half Saturday and is averaging 6.5 a game. Bueckers now has two double-doubles this season and is averaging a team-high 36.2 minutes.

She dished to Evina Westbrook for a layup, then to Westbrook for a 3, as UConn started to shake off the rust with a 44-35 lead. Early in the second, Bueckers dribbled right, drawing the Butler defense, all the while knowing Williams was setting up on the left. She threw a one-handed cross-court pass to Williams for a 3 that made it 56-42. That was her 10th assist.

“For her to be doing that at this young age,” Auriemma said, “in a world today that idolizes scoring, that idolizes the three-point shot, how the game has been taken over by people who could make threes and people who put up numbers — to have someone that would rather pass it [than] score, that’s truly enjoyable to watch. It’s kind of really old school, to be honest.”