UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers undergoes successful surgery on right ankle

National player of the year winner Paige Bueckers has undergone a successful surgery on her right ankle to repair an osteochondral defect, UConn announced Saturday.

Bueckers is expected to be ready for preseason September.

According to Stanford Health Care, an osteochondral defect is a “focal area of damage that involves both the cartilage and a piece of underlying bone [that] can occur from an acute traumatic injury to the knee or an underlying disorder of the bone.” The surgery was performed at UConn Health.

Bueckers injured her right ankle in the fourth quarter of UConn’s late Jan. game at Tennessee before returning to hit the win-sealing 3-point shot. Though Bueckers missed the following game against Georgetown, she played the rest of the season for the Huskies, who fell to Arizona in the Final Four. UConn’s announcement did not specify whether Bueckers’ surgery stemmed from that injury or a previous underlying issue.

The Huskies will return to campus in June for summer school and workouts before going back home for the rest of the summer.

Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com