"That's a lot of miles": Paige Bueckers shares wholesome postgame moment with a young UConn Huskies fan

Paige Bueckers made a fan's birthday special with a sweet gesture. The UConn college women's basketball star met a girl named Piper who flew over 2,000 miles from Napavine, Washington to meet her after the UConn-Notre Dame game on Thursday.

The video, posted by the IG fan account "paigebueckersupdates" on Saturday, showed the moment Bueckers walked out of the locker room to meet Piper, who held a banner that read:

"PAIGE #5 I FLEW 2,271 MI 2 WATCH U PLAY 4 MY BIRTHDAY."

Bueckers took the banner, read it and said:

"That's a lot of miles."

When asked how old she was, the girl said she was 11 years old. Then Bueckers wished her a happy birthday.

Paige Bueckers unable to prevent UConn's first defeat of the season

Syndication: South Bend Tribune - Source: Imagn

The UConn women's basketball team suffered their first defeat of the 2024-25 season, going down 79-68 to Notre Dame on Thursday. Paige Bueckers shined in the game, posting 25 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 37 minutes, but it was not enough to power the Huskies to victory.

Notre Dame led by 11 points at halftime. However, UConn attempted a comeback and came just a point from tying the game in the third quarter. But Hannah Hidalgo's 3-point jumper kept the Fighting Irish in front. UConn was unable to close the gap in the fourth quarter and Notre Dame walked away with the win.

After the game, UConn's coach Geno Auriemma expressed his disappointment in the other UConn players for not taking the pressure off Bueckers.

“You’ve got to take some of the pressure off Paige,” he said after the game per CT Post. "If you're going to play her the way (Notre Dame) played her, which I think is what she's going to see a lot of, we need other contributions.

"And Paige is going to try to carry the team by herself when she thinks there aren't a lot of those contributions. And that's not good for her, and that's not good for us.”

UConn's loss marks a third straight defeat to Notre Dame. However, the Huskies have a 38-16 all-time record against Notre Dame. According to the ACC Network, the Fighting Irish became the first team to defeat the Huskies 16 times under head coach Geno Auriemma.

Meanwhile, Paige Bueckers and UConn will look to move on from the disappointing loss as the Huskies return to action at home against Georgetown on Sunday.