Women's Fastbreak On SI

Fans Frenzy Over Paige Bueckers After UConn's Historic Sellout at Butler

Paige Bueckers' massive fanbase made their presence very apparent during UConn's win against Butler.

Grant Young

Jan 22, 2025; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts after her three point basket and being fouled by the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Jan 22, 2025; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts after her three point basket and being fouled by the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies secured the 26th win of their 2024-25 NCAA women's basketball season on February 22, as they routed Butler by a score of 86-47.

There's little question that the Huskies are arguably the most popular and iconic women's basketball team in all of college basketball. This means that they bring big audiences to many of their games. And this is heightened even further because of Paige Bueckers, who is probably one of the five biggest stars in women's basketball despite still being in college.

If you need proof of this, look no further than some of the scenes that occurred after UConn's win over Butler on Saturday.

First of all, this February 22 game marked the first sellout that the Butler women's basketball team ever produced in the program's history. And during the game, it was clear that this crowd was predominantly UConn fans.

Bueckers was interviewed on the court after the game ended. An X post from Sawyer Goldwein showed that perhaps thousands of fans stayed around after UConn's win to see what Bueckers had to say.

Also after the game, photographer Bri Lewerke posted an X video of a massive crowd of fans crammed into a hallway with the caption, "The crowd of people in the hallway trying to see @paigebueckers1 in the locker room

"Just as many people behind me, too, I was sandwiched lol".

Much has already been made about the "Caitlin Clark Effect" which is a phrase that conveys the massive superstardom (and its impact) that Caitlin Clark brings to women's basketball.

While the "Paige Bueckers Effect" can't quite equal that of Clark, this is proof that her stardom isn't too far behind.

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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.

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