Paige Bueckers confirmed nearly no indicators of rust after lacking two video games with a sprained left knee.
“I really feel good,” Bueckers mentioned after No. 6 UConn’s 71-45 loss to St. John’s on Wednesday night time. “I’m simply pleased to be again on the market. Obviously first sport again from something you simply need to get your ft moist. Get the sensation of enjoying basketball once more, the physicality of it, the tempo of it however feeling good.”
Bueckers scored 12 factors in 23 minutes. He was 1-for-4 within the first half as UConn held a 15-point lead and struggled to seek out the All-American guard’s pictures in an uneven opening 20 minutes.
“Whenever you are taking a break, you are all the time going to have just a little hiccup if you get in there and the best way the sport began, it regarded prefer it picked up proper the place it left off,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma mentioned. “Then you begin to see her drift and she or he would not have the stamina to maintain her foot on the gasoline like she usually would. So she spent a part of the primary half simply wandering and we could not get her sufficient pictures.”
After UConn briefly let the lead drop to 11 early within the third quarter, Bueckers hit three mid-range jumpers in a span of about three and a half minutes to push the result in 48-27 and safe a spot in classification. on the bench watching the quarter.
“We modified a pair issues after which impulsively bang, bang, bang,” Auriemma mentioned. “So I by no means have any doubts about what Paige can do to influence the sport as a result of I’ve seen it so many instances however I additionally know that she’s not a robotic the place you simply put her in, press the button and every thing occurs mechanically.”
Bueckers is again after wins over Xavier and Georgetown and heads into Sunday’s sport in opposition to Seton Hall six shy of turning into UConn’s twelfth 2,000-point scorer. Bueckers is on the verge of the milestone with 101 fewer video games and would surpass Maya Moore because the quickest to succeed in 2,000 factors for the Huskies.
Bueckers was injured within the Huskies’ 83-52 win over Villanova on Jan. 5 after Wildcats freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe landed on her left leg whereas diving for a unfastened ball. Bueckers limped off the sector with 1:17 left within the third quarter and didn’t return.
Bueckers was the nationwide participant of the yr as a freshman, however accidents restricted her to only 17 video games over the following two seasons. He had began the final 54 video games during the last two seasons earlier than his transient absence.
Associated Press reporting.
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