Bueckers does it all for the Huskies
— Paige Bueckers, the 6-foot guard, took the jump ball Sunday afternoon in place of injured teammate Aaliyah Edwards. She won it, stopped for a moment to cast a glance toward her teammates and coaches on the UConn bench as if “I told you so,” then proceeded on her way.
With top-seeded UConn down to seven players, Bueckers did everything else in the Big East Conference tournament semifinal, too, as the Huskies turned away No. 5 Marquette 58-29.
Bueckers finished with 27 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, four blocked shots and three steals and the Huskies (28-5) held Marquette scoreless in the fourth quarter on the way to the victory.
“She's different. That's it. She's different,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of Bueckers, the Big East Player of the Year. “That's evident every time you see her play and the bigger the game, the more different she becomes. It's hard to explain sometimes.
“It's remarkable, I think, the way players like Paige can sum up exactly what's needed at any given moment, any given game . ... Obviously our players feed off of that and they feed off of her. You don't come across players like that very often.”
UConn advanced to tonight's championship game against No. 6 Georgetown (22-10), which eliminated No. 2 Creighton 55-46 in the second semifinal of the day. The final is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena (FS1), with UConn bidding for its 11th straight league tournament title.
Auriemma said that Edwards, who suffered a broken nose during Saturday's quarterfinal win over Providence on an intentional foul, was questionable for Monday's game but would be ready in time for the NCAA tournament.
It was the first double-double of the season for Bueckers and marked her career-high in rebounds.
Among her other highlights, Bueckers splashed a deep, buzzer-beating 3-point field goal to end the third quarter after dribbling around a Marquette double-team, setting off a jubilant celebration among her teammates. That gave the Huskies a 47-29 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Bueckers assisted a 3-point field goal by freshman Qadence Samuels, then blocked a shot and stole a Golden Eagles inbounds pass all in the span of 14 seconds.
Bueckers began receiving a noisy