UConn News: Paige Bueckers Wasn’t The Same After Scary Smack To The Floor, Claims Coach Geno In Tough Loss vs Notre Dame

Losses are tough. And rightly so when they happen at home court. This hard moment dawned on the University of Connecticut Lady Huskies when they gave away the game to their opponents – the Notre Dame on Saturday. Taking cognizance of the same, their head coach Geno Auriemma reflected on the issues faced by his team during clutch moments. 

A problem that surfaced was faced by their star player Paige Bueckers during most of the game. Auriemma’s understanding of the situation was evidence of how psychology plays a role in sports.

What did Auriemma say?

The UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma looked disappointed when speaking of their loss against the Notre Dame on Saturday. During the post-press match conference, Auriemma enumerated the reasons behind their difficult loss and one reason as per the 69-year-old was their star player Paige Bueckers’s loss of form in the middle of the game.

“We’re not there yet where we can… we that we can stop runs like that. Especially,… you know just a lot of things. A lot of things have happened today that.. I don’t know if you saw… I think it was in the first half that Paige went down and she smacked her face against the court. And I don’t think she was the same coming out of it. That’s twice in a week and a half that she has been hit in the face. And I thought she was out of it for most of the game,” Auriemma stated.

Bueckers reportedly was surrounded by two to three defenders most of the time and she faced obstacles in creating open spaces. This defensive tactic against her led the 22-year-old to shoot earlier than what she would have done and this took a toll on her. Another thing that stopped her from being her best was that she got hit in the face during the first half of the game. She was also hit earlier during their previous game against the Marquette. 

In today’s game, though it was a brief smack on the face against the court, it did affect her and as per her head coach, she wasn’t able to perform at her best. Bueckers basketed 17 points in the 37 minutes she played and contributed with 2 rebounds and an equal number of assists.

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Her shooting skills too suffered since she could only pot 5-for-17 free throws and had a paltry 33.3% three-pointer percentage. This made things difficult for the Huskies as Bueckers have been their top scorer in 10 games out of the 21 they have played this season.

What happened next?

The UConn went on to lose the game by a 67-82 margin against the Notre Dame. The highest scorer for them was their forward Aaliyah Edwards who smoked 23 points and nabbed 11 rebounds. Thus, she smashed a double-double. Other than Bueckers, she was supported by their guards KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade who soused 11 and 12 points respectively. The game’s result would have been different had Bueckers been in her full swing.

Auriemma will probably like going back to the locker room and setting some new strategies. He would also be wishing that Bueckers remains away from injury throughout the tournament and the UConn edge past their opponents in the remaining matches.

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