South Carolina HC Dawn Staley once raved about $652,000 NIL-valued Paige Bueckers as UConn star recovers from knee injuries: "Gonna be an Olympian"

Despite registering 20 points, five rebounds and three assists, Paige Bueckers was not able to stop the South Carolina Gamecocks from battering the UConn Huskies 83-65 on Feb. 11.

During her postgame news conference, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley praised the $652,000 NIL-valued Bueckers (per On3).

“Paige was good when she was injured,” Staley said (h/t CBS Sports). “She was good in the national championship game.

"I love Paige’s game. For me, I would like for her to take more shots, if I'm Geno [Auriemma], because she doesn't take bad shots. She's got great court vision, she's got great court awareness. Paige is going to be an Olympian at some point soon."

The legendary South Carolina coach went ahead and broke down which aspects made Paige Bueckers such a deadly player.

“Everything that she does has a purpose,” Staley said. “There’s no wasted movements out there on the floor.

“If you have some slippage defensively, she’s going to make you pay with her shots, she’s going to make you pay with her ability and her vision, she’s going to make you pay with rebounding the basketball. She’s that kind of player, just super well put together.”

Paige Bueckers details mindset switch

Paige Bueckers has had wretched luck with injuries, suffering two ACL injuries in the past two years that have limited her game time and changed her perspective on how to be a student-athlete.

During the postgame news conference after UConn's 104-67 win against DePaul Blue Demons, coach Geno Auriemma revealed how much Bueckers has changed since her sensational freshman season.

"She's bigger than she's been, she's stronger than she's been, and I think she's invested more in herself as you would expect," Auriemma said (h/t CT Insider).

"When you're young you don't think you have to do all that stuff. Now she has more knowledge about nutrition, about sleep, about recovery, about everything. Her sitting out gave her a sense of 'What do I have to do if I want to play this game at a high level?' She would not have been able to do this when she was a freshman."

After the game against DePaul, the talented Bueckers spoke about her mindset shift after her injury-plagued years.

"Comparing that to now, I have a different perspective because I've been in a position where I wasn't even able to play," Bueckers said.

"So really I don't allow myself to think about being tired, mentally, physically, emotionally, because I'm so grateful to be playing the game of basketball again. There are some days that you're hurting or tired from practice or from a game, but overall the gratitude of just playing the game I tend not to focus on that. I enjoy playing basketball whenever I'm on the court."

Bueckers and the Huskies will face the Villanova Wildcats on Wednesday.