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'Just like old times, huh?': Paige Bueckers makes long-awaited return in UConn's season opener

After going 584 days without playing in an official game, Bueckers is just happy to be back – even if that means getting having a bad game or being yelled at by her coach.

Author

Daniel Connolly
November 09, 2023

Photo: Ian Bethune

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'Just like old times, huh?': Paige Bueckers makes long-awaited return in UConn's season opener

Paige Bueckers is officially back.

In UConn’s 102-58 season-opening win over Dayton at the XL Center, she made her much-anticipated return to action, playing in her first game in 584 days after missing all of last year with a torn ACL. Unlike the way she came back from her initial knee injury during the 2021-22 campaign — hitting a buzzer-beater and hyping up the crowd at the end of the opening quarter in her first game back — Bueckers didn’t have a signature play on the court on Friday.

Instead, that type of moment happened off the court. After Bueckers subbed out in the first half and sat down on the bench, head coach Geno Auriemma ripped into her — loudly. Bueckers just sat there stone-faced and took it.

That’s when she knew she was back.

“Just like old times, huh?” she said with a smile. “Last year sitting on the bench, I would’ve done anything just to be out there and get yelled at.”

For Bueckers’ lofty standards, her performance in the victory wasn’t anything special. On a night when the Huskies had six different players in double-figures, she only had eight points and went 3-9 from the field. Yet Bueckers did exactly what Auriemma expected of her.

“The game doesn't all of a sudden leave you when you haven’t played, but it also doesn't automatically come back that fast, either,” he said. “So I think given that it was the first game, she was what I thought she would be. And she'll be better on Sunday and she'll be better next Thursday.”

Bueckers graded herself a little more harshly, calling it “a bad game”, but she also understands getting back to her old self is a process that’ll take time. Even though “she wants to get it all back on each possession,” according to the coach, she’s tried to maintain the proper perspective, too.

“I'm still learning how to give myself grace. I'm not ignorant enough to think that it's going to be a linear trajectory this whole time and it’s going to be on the up-and-up and be the old Paige and have a great game every game,” Bueckers explained. “This is a process coming back from a major injury, getting my legs under me, getting the rhythm and flow back of playing basketball again.”

There were positive moments from her performance, though. On more than one occasion, Bueckers drove to the rim and got knocked to the floor but each time, she got right back up and hustled back on defense. Later on, she fell to the hardwood when an opposing player dove for a ball and awkwardly landed on Bueckers’ legs. That didn’t faze her, though. She popped up as if nothing happened.

“She's full of confidence because she's bigger, She's stronger,” Auriemma said. “She wants to feel what it feels like to get hit so she put herself in those situations a lot today.”

Bueckers also played 21 minutes and saw action in the second half — an increase from 12 minutes in the exhibition, all of which came in the first two quarters.

While there might not have been a highlight-reel play that re-introduced Bueckers to the nation in the opener, all the mattered is she was back on the floor. Over the last two years, she’s watched 54 of 73 games from the bench. Bueckers was just happy to be out there on Friday night.

In the end, it was the best bad game of her career.

“Even just to have a bad game, I'm grateful to have a bad game and be able to play basketball again,” Bueckers said.

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