Women's Fastbreak On SI

Fans Flock to Paige Bueckers' Defense After UConn Star's Low Point Total in Win

UConn Huskies fans have some hilarious explanations for Paige Bueckers' below average scoring night on Tuesday.

Grant Young

Dec 3, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts during a break against the Holy Cross Crusaders in the first half at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Dec 3, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts during a break against the Holy Cross Crusaders in the first half at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies squad didn't look like the dominant team that women's basketball fans have become accustomed to watching this season.

While UConn still finished Tuesday's game against Holy Cross University with an 88-52 win, they were only winning by 6 points at halftime and were struggling to find their offensive flow.

Particularly surprising was the low-scoring night that Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers produced. She only had 5 points at halftime (on just 4 shots) and finished the game with 11 points on 4-9 shooting, including going 2-4 from three-point range.

While this isn't an objectively bad night by any means, fans have come to expect more from Bueckers, who is averaging 20.4 points per game and is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

Scoring struggles aside, UConn fans aren't worried about their best player. In fact, they're coming to her defense and declaring that Tuesday's off-night offensively might actually be a good thing in the long run.

"paige slacked off so everyone else could step up to earn their minutes in this ranked stretch don’t worry guys," wrote X user @phee4three.

Another fan added, "Idk why UConn fans tripping about Paige points. We actually need to see players not named Paige lead us in scoring."

"Nvm Paige still shot 45% + 5 assists, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals, this aint even that bad, were good 🤷🏽‍♀️," added another.

And another fan noted a hilarious explanation for Paige's game, writing, "paige literally got brutally attacked by a wild pig can y’all chill on her".

This is a reference to Bueckers jokingly saying, "One [pig] attacked my back, but I lived to tell the tale," when speaking about a team pig sightseeing excursion in The Bahamas last week.

Pig attack or no, we imagine Bueckers will get back on track when the Huskies play Louisville on December 7.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

Home/News