Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies pulled off a remarkable upset, overthrowing the Juju Watkins-led Trojans to advance to the Final Four with an 80-73 win. Eliminating USC from March Madness, Bueckers was the star of the game. And she handled the attention remarkably. She was flooded by requests to celebrate her 28-point outing with the iconic Kobe Bryant championship pose. You know, the one Caitlin Clark recreated after the Big 10 win.

Bueckers, though, prefers to channel the Black Mamba in spirit and not in likeness. She brushed off the requests with an all-encompassing, “It ain’t me, dawg. That’s Kobe.” ‘Nuff said.

After missing a season due to her ACL injury, Bueckers returned to the shorthanded Huskies with a tribute to Bryant’s daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant. She wore a t-shirt with a quote attributed to Gigi – “If you think you can’t, UConn” – at the season opener game. Bueckers has also repeatedly touted the 5x NBA champion’s 2018 book on the Mamba Mentality as her inspiration to get through injuries.

She powered through her injury to step up for the Huskies this way. She was the experienced guard who kept USC’s freshman scorer, Juju Watkins, in check. Bueckers recorded a team-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks to lead UConn to its 23rd Final Four appearance. They will face off against the Iowa Hawkeyes, whose star had no qualms pulling a Kobe.

Paige Bueckers looks at Caitlin Clark’s Kobe moment

While fans adored Paige’s tribute to Gigi, perhaps she’s wary of the response Caitlin Clark received a few weeks ago. After winning her third consecutive Big 10 championship, Clark recreated the last NBA champion to three-peat aka Bryant. The inspiration was Bryant’s 2001 image when he looked sullen on the locker room bench holding the Larry O’Brien trophy.

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The game has a sad context as the NBA Finals were in Philadelphia, not far from where his parents lived. But Joe and Pam were estranged from Kobe and didn’t attend the game, marring what was supposed to be one of the greatest days of his career. Clark also hugged her Big 10 trophy on a bench, wearing baggy clothes and a cap like Bryant did and her Nike Kobes, and looked down. While it was an homage to the NBA legend, it was not well-received.

There was some outrage as fans alleged she was disrespectful to the original. Bueckers may have taken note. She was handed a trophy after winning against USC. She, however, passed the prop to someone else and escaped the requests to pose. If she ends up winning the title, don’t expect her to do the pose then either.

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