UConn Huskies' Paige Bueckers is closing out her college career strong and is doing so in a dominant fashion. In her fourth straight Sweet 16 appearance for March Madness, the fourth-year superstar posted a new career-high in points for a game with a staggering 40 on an efficient 16-of-27 overall clip, to go along with six rebounds, an assist, three steals and two blocks in 35 minutes of action.
This then paved the way for the Geno Auriemma-coached squad, which is the No. 3 seed in Spokane Regional 4, to thrash the No. 3-seeded Oklahoma Sooners by a whopping 23 points, 82-59, on Saturday, and move on to the Elite Eight of this year's national tournament. With this, Bueckers is a step closer towards a lone national title, since this is likely her last college stint.
During a post-game interview, Bueckers was then asked about how it feels to have accomplished a feat that no other UConn Husky, with its storied line of alumni, has in the winner-take-all tourney, which is to drop 40 points. But, in a true showcase of pure leadership and team chemistry, the Hopkins, Minnesota native elected to discuss her teammates and the great job they did against Oklahoma.
"Really, it's not about me. Jana (El-Alfy), Ice (Brady) there, the way they protected the pain. This game was on them. They have a really good interior team, Reagan Beers. I got people posting up. They just protected the pain. They rebounded extremely well. They're extremely well rebounding team. They play extremely physical," Paige Bueckers said. [0:05]
"So, a huge shout out to them, because we want to win this game without them."
It seems as though Bueckers is still banking on the kind of team player and role model she is by giving her teammates all the credit for her dominance. Aspects like these may just be the driving forces towards her likely WNBA Draft top selection later this year.
On her fourth and probably final campaign of collegiate basketball, Paige Bueckers is averaging a team-high 19.8 points, to go along with 4.4 boards, 4.8 dimes and 2.1 steals per contest.
Paige Bueckers shared that she cooks meals for teammate Jana El-Alfy due to Ramadan
Paige Bueckers was recently highlighted by @espnw on Instagram on Tuesday, March 26, for performing a thoughtful gesture that exemplifies the leadership and teammate qualities of an MVP. Bueckers shared that she has been cooking breakfast for rookie Jana El-Alfy, who is observing Ramadan and fasting from sunrise to sunset.
The kind of commitment the graduating sensation has towards the success of the UConn Huskies may just be what they need to get over the hump in snapping the program's nine-year national championship drought. Their run continues on Monday when they face the first-seeded USC Trojans for the NCAA Elite Eight.
Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma, or Kim Mulkey - who is NCAAW's highest-paid coach? Find out here