Paige Bueckers' custom sneaker draws rave reviews

After debuting them against Louisville on Saturday, the Huskies are big fans of Bueckers' new Nike G.T. Hustle 3s.

Photo: Ian Bethune

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Paige Bueckers' custom sneaker draws rave reviews

Paige Bueckers wanted to make something clear about her new custom-designed sneaker from Nike, the first of its kind for a college athlete.

“You're not going to shoot 2-for-11 if you wear them, so don't get any of those ideas,” she joked, reference her poor shooting night in them against Louisville.

Bueckers, alongside most of her teammates and the entire support staff, wore the Nike Nike G.T. Hustle 3s for the Women’s Champions Classic at the Barclays Center on Saturday, the first day they were released to the public. They stood out on the court, featuring a light blue base color alongside accents of pink and purple. Bueckers also added a few personal touches: The area codes 860 (Connecticut) and 612 (Minnesota) on the tongue, “Be You, Be Great” on the left heel and her nickname “Buckets” on the right heel.

“I thought it came out perfect,” she said.

Bueckers isn’t the only one who thinks so. The general public gobbled them up immediately — they’re already sold out. As for those inside the program who were gifted a pair by Bueckers and Nike, they all shared rave reviews.

Kaitlyn Chen called them “really pretty” while Ashlynn Shade thought they were so great that she plans to continue wearing the same model.

“I loved her shoes. I thought they were really comfortable,” Ashlynn Shade said. “I asked our equipment manager Chris [Stasaitis], ‘Do you have these in our (UConn) colors?’ I’d like to keep wearing the same [shoe] just because I really enjoyed playing in them.”

Even Geno Auriemma, who never passes up an opportunity to poke fun at his superstar, couldn’t help but gush about them.

“I love them. I really do. I think they're really cool. She picked out some great colors there. They look great in person, on TV. It's a really cool shoe. The players like it. They say it's comfortable,” he said. “If the shoe is comfortable — and it's as comfortable as it visually appealing — then I think a lot of kids are going to be wearing that shoe.”

Auriemma doesn’t have any experience wearing them himself, though. That would require him trying them on the first place.

“I haven't opened the box,” he said.

Bueckers is the first college athlete ever to get a custom sneaker from Nike. During the design process, she worked in conjunction with Nike’s creative team to find the right look. She shared her own ideas, then they’d come back with some concepts for her to check out. While Bueckers enjoyed the collaboration, she wanted to make sure the “Be You, Be Great” tagline and area codes were included.

“The ‘Be You, Be Great’ was one that I wanted to [include]. It’s a huge message that has been a part of my life,” she said. “Then to have the 860 and the 612 symbolize who I am and where I came from and everybody around me was important.”

That mantra is especially meaningful to Bueckers.

“It comes from my dad. He texts to me before every single game just to reassure me, just be myself,” she said. “I've always been a kid who loves to play the game and that's why I play it. So just always remember that: Be a kid at heart and just enjoy being yourself. You don't have to be anybody else in order to be great and just be the best version of yourself.”

Even though the sneakers couldn’t be more centered around Bueckers given they bear her name and she helped design them, the ever-humble superstar still tried to pass along the attention to anyone but herself.

“It's just crazy, surreal, just to look back at the pictures. It's definitely wild and I'm extremely grateful, extremely blessed, that Nike gave me the opportunity to share that with my teammates,” she said. “It was really a group thing because it's really not the Paige Bueckers shoe, it's everybody who's invested and been around around me shoe.”

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