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Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
UCo’s women’s basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, likes to make analogies with other sports, and this is how the famous Jim Brown went about it when Auriemma talks about first-year sensation Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers had her third straight game of 30 points or more – something no other UConn player has ever done – as her 31 points Monday night in Storrs were the no. 2 Huskies lifted above No. 1 South Carolina by 63-59 overtime. Connecticut. The 5-foot-11 guard scored the Huskies’ last 13 points, including all nine in the overtime, and played all 45 minutes. She made 14 of 26 shots off the field and stole 4 hits, 5 assists and 6 steals.
“She’s very slow, and I say that with a great deal of appreciation,” Auriemma said. “She’s taking her time … she’s like when Jim Brown ran earlier. When she gets the ball, she’s like, ‘Should I go to that hole, that hole, that one … what’s the best decision for me? at the moment?? ”she waits until the last minute, and nothing hurries her, so you can not make her play faster than she wants to play.
“If you’re just a shooter like she is … she just has a lot of confidence in her ability. If she can get rid of one, she thinks it’s going in. I’m sometimes amazed at how hard she has to work because of the defensive “The attention she gets every night. She’s just fine.”
This match only became a match of the two best teams on Monday afternoon, when the Associated Press poll came out. The eleven-time national champion UConn has been in many of these competitions since he rose to national status in the 1990s. Although the Huskies are 14-1, they are not a powerhouse team like many UConns in the past; even Auriemma would say so.
But it does have a superstar freshman studying expertly downloading screens and stepping forward in the biggest moments like a longtime veteran. Bueckers, who was the No. 1 recruiter from the 2020 class, leads the Huskies in points (21.1 PPG), assists (5.6 APG) and steals (2.6 SPG). She shoots 56.9% from the field and 55.6% from the 3-point distance.
UConn has had a treasure trove of superstars from the past who have also had remarkable first-year seasons, including Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart for the past twenty years, all of whom have been the MVP in the WNBA. However, none of them played with six other freshmen like Bueckers in a team. That means it’s her team in a way it was not for the other superstars as freshmen. She gets a huge spotlight and shines above expectations so far.
“She’s a player,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “She makes big shots when her number rings every time.”
If the Gamecocks hit one of the four shots on the basket at the end of the regulation – Destanni Henderson’s jumper was short, then Victaria Saxton missed a setback, followed by Aliyah Boston’s two missed setback attempts – Bueckers did not want to the story of the night.
The Gamecocks will make up for their missed layups, which ruined their normally fatal transition game, missed free throws (they went 8-out-15) and turnover (21). They kept the Huskies 24 points below their season average of 87.1 in the game, kept them to just 2-of-15 from behind the arc and outscored 52-39.
South Carolina finished the 2019-20 season in first place and started in the same spot, before losing to NC State on December 3rd. Gamecocks’ replacement in the first place, Stanford, sank after an overtime loss in Colorado. On January 17, Louisville at no. 1 taken over. When the NC state beat Louisville last Monday, South Carolina rose to number 1 again in this week’s poll.
But that will be a short while, because the mistakes of the Gamecocks and the big shots of Bueckers on Monday did it. The second of the Huskies’ three-pointers comes from Bueckers with 13 seconds left, hits the edge and bounces high in the air and then falls through the net.
“It felt good when it left my hand,” said Bueckers, who missed her other five three-point attempts. “But yes, I would say it was a very good refusal.”
It was the kind of night for her, but it’s become a regular thing, only 14 games in her college career [she missed one game with an ankle sprain]. On January 21, Bueckers also had a hat-trick with 28 seconds left against Tennessee, which was the dagger of the 67-61 victory.
“It’s still crazy for me,” Bueckers said as her UConn career began. “Just the blessings I got, just the opportunities I got. It’s just so crazy for me to be playing big games like this with an amazing team and coaching team here in my big dream school. Day, every second, every minute, I’m very grateful to be here. ‘