Bueckers shows spark in tourney win
STORRS — There were snapshots from the UConn women’s basketball team’s 45-point victory that offered a hint of what’s ahead.
Paige Bueckers stopped at the arc and lofted a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half. Paige Bueckers steal-and-score during a UConn run early in second half.
Paige Bueckers driving through the paint with abandon or feeding a teammate for one of her five assists.
Moments from the 24-minute, 38-second performance in an 83-38 win over Mercer in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturyou’ve day that makes Geno Auriemma think Bueckers is close to being the player she was pre-Dec. 5, 2021.
In her sixth game since returning from an 11-week absence, Bueckers had 12 points and was a plus-41. She converted 5 of 7 shots, she was perfect on a pair of 3-point attempts, she had two steals and brought her usual bounce to the court.
And yet …
“She looks a little bit like she did, but she’s a little bit out of sorts still,” Auriemma said. “There weren’t a lot of smooth exchanges between her and and some of our post players where, you know,
seen a lot of the last year, where there’s a lot of quick hitters between her and (Olivia NelsonOdoda), or her and Dorka earlier this year.
“So she’s not quite there yet. But I was more interested in how’s she going to look playing that many minutes. And, you know, I thought that she came out of it looking really, really good.”
Bueckers’ integration into the UConn rotation was a source of fascination in the women’s college basketball world as the postseason loomed. UConn, of course, navigated a season of injuries that saw its national ranking dip — the
team that began as No. 2 in the country fell out of the top 10 of the Associated Press poll just two weeks after Bueckers injured her left leg.
But she returned from surgery in late February. The Huskies entered March with Bueckers added to a healthy and deep roster, earning a second seed in the Bridgeport region.
On Saturday, Bueckers was back in the starting lineup after previously starting just once — in the season finale — since returning.
Auriemma, in the opening remarks of his postgame press conference, deadpanned that the game began “disjointed” because he changed the lineup: “Putting a sub in the starting lineup I think affected us more than I thought it would.”
Sitting to his left at the podium, Bueckers smirked.
Some things are indeed in midseason form, notably the relationship between coach and player. Auriemma famously razzes his best player but he’s never hid his admiration. He has talked about her impact on the team, how her mere presence lights a fire under the Huskies.
Passing and shooting aside, it’s Bueckers energy and swagger. That’s coming.
But Auriemma does not see hesitation in her game. The minutes will increase, the repetition will sand out the edges of her game.
“I think it’s game mode, you know?” Auriemma said. “When you haven’t played in the game in a long time … When you’re in practice, you can do a lot because it lasts a long time, you have the ball in your hands all the time. We can stop and orchestrate any way we want.
“But, you know, game mode is a little bit different and that takes a little bit of, you know, getting back. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to just step in after two months and pick up where you left off.
“Paige is as good as the other people around her. So if more people around her are making shots, then Paige becomes that much more effective. And you know, I also think the more times Paige looks to shoot and the more shots she attempts, the more shots other people are going to get because people are going to pay more attention to her than they normally would.”
UConn (26-5) dominated the inferior opponent with
a stifling defense that held Mercer scoreless in the third quarter. Mercer made 13 of 56 shots and turned the ball over 21 times.
The Huskies turned defense into offense, as Auriemma preaches. Ten players scored as the ball moved from player to player, from starter to starter and reserve to reserve. The rotation that’s nine players deep can beat opponents in myriad of ways.
Yet as good as UConn is, Bueckers elevates it all. Coming off an 11-day break since the Big East Tournament, Bueckers had hours in the gym.
“I’ve just tried to lock in mentally and physically, and trying to do whatever I have to do, cut certain stuff out and just really lock in,” she said. “Just getting my body prepared, my mind prepared, and I think in the last 10 days I really locked in on that. So that’s helped me gain confidence in my movements and what I’m doing on the court and then just my teammates giving me confidence, my coaches giving me confidence, and just to keep working, and they’re going to be by my side and help me through that.
“So I think just a whole lot of confidence and moving better and the preparation has helped me be better on the court.”
Bueckers logged the most playing time in any game since she’s returned. She was greeted with a thunderous
ovation during her pregame introduction and was posing for photos with fans in the stands during the Florida-Central Florida game later in the afternoon.
UConn fans want more Paige. And the more she’s on the floor, the better she’ll be — which doesn’t bode well for opponents in front of the Huskies.
“I don’t think there’s any set amount of time that we have,” Auriemma said. “Initially we did. When she was first coming back, there was. But right now I just kind of go by what I see and what it feels like and what I think, trying to read her mind or trying to read her body language, and try to be respectful too of we have a game on Monday.
“So I think there’s a lot of decisions that go into that. But right now I don’t have a particular number in mind. Today, it was 24 today … It could be 30 or 20 on Monday. I think a lot depends on what the game looks like and what she looks like.”
Will she continue to start? That seems likely.
“It doesn’t matter what role I’m playing, whether it be off the bench, starting, 30 minutes, 10 minutes,” Bueckers said. “I think I just have so much passion for the game that I’m going to be excited and nervous and anxious for every single game.”
“So she’s not quite there yet. But I was more interested in how’s she going to look playing that many minutes. And, you know, I thought that she came out of it looking really, really good.” — Geno Auriemma, UConn women’s basketball coach