UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers is back: What you need to know about absence and return
One of the greatest to ever put on a UConn women’s basketball jersey is back.
Paige Bueckers makes her highly-anticipated return Wednesday night when the No. 2-ranked Huskies open the 2023-24 regular season hosting Dayton at the XL Center in Hartford.
It’ll be exactly 584 days since Bueckers last played a game for UConn after an August 2022 ACL injury forced her to sit out all last season recovering. That injury came after a separate knee injury sidelined her for 19 games as a sophomore in 2021-22.
Wednesday’s return of the 2021 National Player of the Year gives the Huskies back their star point guard, playmaker and just overall best player as they look to get back to the Final Four.
Bueckers got her feet wet playing in UConn’s exhibition on Saturday. Despite being limited in minutes as she recovers from a left thumb injury, the 6-foot redshirt junior recorded seven assists in her first 10 minutes on the floor.
As the college basketball world celebrates her return, here’s a look behind Bueckers’ absence and what UConn has endured:
As a freshman in 2020-21, Bueckers lit up the women’s college basketball world. She led the Huskies in points (20.0 per game), assists (168 total), steals (66 total), 3-point field goal percentage (4.64 per game) and minutes (36.2). She became the first-ever freshman to sweep the National Player of the Year awards, including the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy and the AP Player of the Year Award.
She was also a first-time All-American and the WBCA and Big East Freshman of the Year. Bueckers became UConn’s freshman record holder for assists with 168 and was also named the 2021 Nancy Lieberman Award winner.
When she made her return (for the final 11 games of the season), she averaged 11 points, 2.7 assists, 0.8 steals and 3.2 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game. It was clear she wasn’t quite herself even after the injury, despite helping UConn reach the national championship game.
When last seen …
Bueckers’ last appearance in a meaningful game — not counting Saturday’s preseason exhibition game against Division II Southern Connecticut State — was in the 2022 NCAA championship.
The Huskies fell 64-49, the first loss in a title game after UConn won 11 championships. Bueckers scored a team-high 14 points, playing in her hometown of Minneapolis. She was 6 of 13 shooting with one 3-pointer, six rebounds and two assists in 39 minutes before a crowd of friends and family.
But South Carolina spoiled the homecoming.
“I mean, nobody in my position would be happy right now, so I’m obviously upset just with the way things ended,” Bueckers said after the game. “Super proud of this team for how far we’ve come and all the adversity we’ve dealt with and all we’ve overcome to get to this point. But at UConn, it’s National Championship or nothing, so obviously upset, frustrated, disappointed.”
That was on Sunday, April 3, 2022.
Nearly four months to the day later, Bueckers injured her ACL and her junior season was over before it began.
