Paige Bueckers leads UConn past Maryland in long-awaited grudge match

When UConn traveled down to Maryland in early December last season, it was starting to run out of bodies. Already down Paige Bueckers and Ice Brady for the entire year, Azzi Fudd went down the week before and just three days earlier, they lost Nika Mühl to a concussion suffered in the previous game.

When the ball went up in College Park, UConn had seven healthy players and were forced to start Inês Bettencourt — a freshman point guard from Portgual who arrived on campus the day fall classes started as a late addition in response to Bueckers’ torn ACL.

Facing the No. 20 team in the nation, the Huskies put up a valiant effort in which it scored 78 points but ultimately came up short. If anything, they had a lot more to be proud of in their performance than the Terrapins.

But when the final buzzer sounded, Maryland’s players stormed the court as if they’d just won the national championship. UConn couldn’t believe it.

“That might have been one of the best games we played all last year considering who we had in the game and [the fact that we] turned it over 30 times,” Geno Auriemma said. “We were down five with four minutes to go in the game and we had 70 points sitting on the bench. It was incredible that we were in that game at all.”

The Huskies didn’t forget. When the Terrapins visited Storrs on Thursday night, UConn viewed it as more than just another game. It was a grudge match.

“I think this one stuck,” Auriemma said. “I was happy with the way they responded.”

“That gave us fuel to come out there and just be aggressive and throw the first punch,” Aubrey Griffin added.

That translated onto the floor. It was a physical contest from the jump with bodies hitting the floor throughout the night.

At one point, Bueckers got poked in the eye and had to go to the bench for a few possessions. Afterwards, she had the scars to prove it — a big scratch under a still-swollen right eye.

“I wanted to look more black and blue so it looked how it felt,” she said.

Then midway through the second quarter, Bueckers got tangled up with Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers and they each landed hard on the floor. After a review, the officials only hit Bueckers with an intentional foul. Sellers made both technical free throws to extend the Terrapins’ lead to three.

To that point in the game, UConn’s performance didn’t look all that different compared to its loss to NC State. The Huskies started fast but allowed Maryland to climb back in it thanks to a combination of bad defense and stagnant offense.

Then Bueckers got angry and decided enough was enough.

Playing alongside Aaliyah Edwards and three freshmen, Bueckers sparked a 12-0 run that put UConn swung all the momentum in its favor. She capped it off with five straight points herself, which forced Maryland coach Brenda Frese to take a timeout.

After the Terrapins briefly stopped the bleeding with two free throws, the Huskies went right back to work with an 8-0 run to close the half. Bueckers scored six of those points, including the last four.

“That was an extremely fun run,” Bueckers said with a smile.

UConn went into the locker room with a 15-point lead — its largest of the day to that point. Maryland never got within single-digits again.

“I don't care how many good players you have. There's still a pecking order on your team,” Auriemma said. “[Teams] need somebody to lit that fuse and feel like they can feed off of them. Paige became that today. She became that lightning rod that just started the whole thing.”

Bueckers finished with a game-high 24 points on 10-14 shooting, including a 2-3 night from beyond the arc. Nearly half of her points (11) came during that second quarter run that put the game out of reach.

“Paige did what All-Americans do: She put the team on her back and made play after play,” Frese said. “That really, really hurt us.”

It all started because UConn wanted to stick it Maryland after last year. When the game turned physical, the Terrapins tried to use that to slow Bueckers down. Instead, it only made her better.

“I know teams are gonna play extremely physical with me, especially coming off injury. They want to test me to make sure that I'm alright,” Bueckers said. “Anytime situations like that happen, you can either respond and shy away from it or embrace it.”

“If anything, she wants to play so bad that I think that whenever there's an incident like that, she comes back maybe even more determined somehow,” Auriemma said. “She’s just a unique kid when it comes to that.”

In the end, the Huskies got what they needed — a bounce-back win — and what they wanted — revenge over Maryland — just like Bueckers. Future opponents are now forewarned about the dangers of being physical with her and she erased many of the doubts about whether she can still be the same player that she was before her injuries.

Now, the focus will turn to making sure UConn can replicate the performance — as a team and individually.

“I hope this becomes the norm now,” Auriemma said.