Paige Bueckers ready to embrace the hate at Tennessee

The superstar has never played in front of a full crowd in Knoxville.

Photo: Daniel Connolly

Paige Bueckers grinned ear-to-ear as she imagined the hostile crowd that awaits UConn at Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday. While it’ll certainly be loud and blindingly orange, that’s not what excites Bueckers the most. Instead, she seemed downright giddy about being on the receiving end of the deep-seated hatred that still lingers in the rivalry.

“Being able to play in that environment where that many people hate you, it'll probably be a lot of fun,” Bueckers said.

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