Bueckers is powering up on, off court

Jun. 29—Paige Bueckers' point-guard mentality has served her well on and off the court. But as the UConn women's basketball standout heads into her junior year, it's the right time for her to give back to herself as much as she gives to others. While she's been on campus with her teammates for the first summer-school session that ends this week, part of that will come as she'll remain in Storrs for most of the remainder of the summer to work on herself and her game.

"I'm sort of a people-pleaser," Bueckers said last week while at coach Geno Auriemma's Fore the Kids Charity Golf tournament. "I like to do everything for everybody else. I think the biggest thing for me this summer was taking a step back and actually staying at school. I feel like when I'm at home everybody thinks, 'It's the offseason. She can come here and do this. She can come here and do that.' I knew I would be all over the place if I were at home so I wouldn't have time to rest or get better.

"So I think the biggest thing for me was staying at school this summer to stay focused. I'm getting stronger. I'm getting bigger. I'm getting quicker. And I'm sharpening my skills as a basketball player."

Bueckers, the 2021 national Player of the Year as a freshman, missed 19 games a season ago after having surgery for a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus in her left knee. She was injured in the final minute of the Huskies' win over Notre Dame on Dec. 5 and returned to action in a win over St. John's Feb. 25.

She saw her minutes limited and wasn't really needed as UConn rolled to the Big East tournament championship and was given the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament Bridgeport Regional.

When it was time to step up, though, Bueckers did. She played a key role as the Huskies increased their record for consecutive berths in the Sweet 16 (28), Elite Eight (16), and Final Four (14). She was her Player of the Year-self in the regional final against top-seeded North Carolina State as she scored 15 of her 27 points in the first 6:10 of overtime to earn regional Most Outstanding Player honors for a second straight year as UConn topped the Wolfpack 91-87 in double-overtime to advance to the Final Four near her Minneapolis home.

Bueckers scored 14 points as the Huskies ended a four-game losing streak in the national semifinals by knocking off Stanford 63-58 and had 14 points in the national championship game. South Carolina defeated UConn 64-49 in the final to end a 30-6 campaign though Bueckers was named to the all-Final Four team for a second time.

"It's really crazy to just sit back and think about last season," Bueckers said. "Obviously, when you're going through it during the season you can't sit back and reflect on it because you're going through it at the moment. Seeing all we fought through and came through with all the challenges and obstacles, it was a roller coaster. The fact we made it to where we did and how we did it with people doubting us felt good.

"I know we came up short and at UConn it's championship or nothing, so obviously that's a disappointment. But just looking back on it, we try to find the positives in it."

In 29.2 minutes, Bueckers averaged 14.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.3, and 1.5 steals.

Now she needs to be better than ever if UConn is to chase down South Carolina and the other top contenders for the crown.

"I definitely want to get stronger," Bueckers said. "I don't want to get thrown around. I want to be able to hold my ground and withstand what any defense throws at me. I'm going to face a lot of different things and teams are going to try to be physical with me and beat me up and take me out of the game that way. I want to fight through that and make sure my body is physically ready for it and I'm mentally ready for it. That's a huge key this offseason."

Phyiscally, at least, she's making progress.

"I'm surprised you guys haven't seen her flexing at all," UConn guard Azzi Fudd said. "She's in love with her new muscles."

For Bueckers, it's more of normal offseason than she's had since eighth grade.

A year ago she was coming off ankle surgery and 2020 was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. After her freshman, sophomore, and junior years at Hopkins High in Minnesota (2017-19), she led USA Basketball national teams to gold medals.

There are reasons that she and the coaching staff want her to get stronger.

"If you watch us play, nobody gets fouled more than Paige does," Auriemma said. "Nobody gets bumped off her cuts, nobody gets hit more. Like every other good player that we've ever had, or probably exist, most of the officials go, 'Well she can handle it.' So, they don't want to call anything because they don't want to go, 'Oh that's special. That's preferential treatment for Paige.'

"No, it's called protecting the guy with the ball and protecting your guy who's trying to get open on the wing or whatever the case may be. So, she needs to be strong enough to withstand all that."

Bueckers has played 1,545 minutes in 45 games over two seasons and has been to the free-throw line 112 times, or 2.9 times for every 40 minutes she is on the floor.

Even in perhaps the Huskies' most physical game of the season — in the second round of the NCAA tournament against UCF — she went to the line only three times.

"You saw in that game I was having fun," Bueckers said. "That stuff is fun to me. As a competitor you love it. That's the stuff Steph Curry goes through. He gets pounded. He gets beat. That's why you see him fill out and how much stronger he has gotten. To see other people go through the same thing I have, as a competitor you love it because it is part of the game and it's fun."

Bueckers' had some off-the-court fun Tuesday through her NIL deal with Gatorade as it is featuring her in the brand's multi-athlete bottle collection alongside the brand's youngest athlete partners Trevor Lawrence (quarterback, Jacksonville Jaguars, Fernando Tatis Jr. (shortstop, San Diego Padres), and Sydney McLaughlin (USA track, Olympic gold medalist).

According to Gatorade, the "bold design of Bueckers' bottle brings her personality to life and is a reminder to find the joy in sport, with the blue and pink overlapping ribbons a subtle nod to her game-day braids and a basketball hoop inspired by her nickname, 'Paige Buckets.' "

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.