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Paige Bueckers is back in Storrs, Connecticut, practicing with her former UConn Huskies. It’s a big week for her college team, as they dominated DePaul 102-35 on Sunday, but they have a matchup coming up against USC on Saturday, the 13th. And nothing gets them going like going against one of the greatest players in the WNBA.
Bueckers is coming off a stretch where she won a national championship, was a WNBA All-Star Game starter, won WNBA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the All-WNBA Second Team in a span of about six months. That’s an impressive run, and she’s paying it back by visiting UConn again.
It helps that her girlfriend, Azzi Fudd, still plays on the team, who commented on Bueckers’ return to Storrs.
“I feel like for the people who played with them, having them back, it’s like that bittersweet feeling. It’s like, ‘Aw, we miss you guys. We miss having you here.’ But it’s a lot of fun to have them back,” Fudd said. “Just the energy they bring, and obviously, they make the red team a lot better when they’re playing. And it’s more of a challenge for us, so it gives us better competition, different things to look at.”
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Any time you lose someone who goes on to be the WNBA Rookie of the Year, it’s going to take an adjustment period. UConn has adjusted so far, starting the season 9-0, and only one game has been closer than 12 points. Fudd believes that the adjustment is going well so far.
“We’ve done a pretty good job. Obviously, when you lose someone like Paige, it’s not one person who’s gonna fill that void. It’s everyone’s gotta step up and do a little more. People have really stepped up. I mean, Paige did so much, the scoring, rebounding, the court vision, the I.Q., and the leadership. We’ve been playing well together so far. So, if we can continue to get better, trend upward without Paige, we’ll be just fine.”
Bueckers averaged 19.9 PPG, 4.6 APG, 4.4 RPG, and 2.1 SPG in her final season at UConn while leading them to their first national championship since 2016, which was a long stretch without a title for a program like UConn.
She then went to the WNBA and put up very similar numbers for the Dallas Wings: 19.2 PPG, 5.4 APG, and 3.4 RPG. The only difference is that the Wings were terrible and UConn was incredible last year, something that Bueckers is trying to fix for her second season in the WNBA.
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