Geno Auriemma Asserts Paige Bueckers Is More Assertive Despite Scoring Less For UConn
What's not surprising is that the No. 2 ranked UConn Huskies women's basketball team has gotten off to an 8-0 start to the 2024-25 NCAA regular season.
What is surprising is that they've done so without Huskies star guard Paige Bueckers being at the top of her scoring game.
While Bueckers is still UConn's top scorer and averaging an impressive 18.9 points per game, this is down from her career average and 2 points per game less than the 21.9 she averaged in the 2023-24 campaign.
However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing for Bueckers and UConn, as it could be a result of Bueckers letting the game come to her and not forcing things (which is proven by her 56.3% field goal percentage this year being the highest of her career).
Bueckers seems to think as much, saying, "That's what UConn is all about. When somebody has a bad game, it's anybody's night on any given night. So not forcing it, just continuing to read what the defense is giving me, and... play within the offense, play within the action, get myself [going] that way. But when it's time to be assertive and go create the action myself, I think I've had a pretty good read at that," when asked about her scoring on Tuesday.
Bueckers' head coach Geno Auriemma echoed this sentiment when asked about where Bueckers is at in her journey of becoming more assertive.
"The value of having somebody like Paige... that they make their teammates a lot better," Auriemma said Tuesday, per SNY. "Just by their presence on the floor, and their ability to see and pass. So Paige's impact on our team, even Saturday, can be either getting 20 points and being responsible for a lot of easy buckets, or a lot of free looks.
"So is she being more assertive? Yes," Auriemma continued. "She attracts so much attention everywhere she goes, it does a lot for our other players... So that makes our team doubly dangerous."
Geno Auriemma talks about Paige Bueckers being a more assertive player:
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) December 11, 2024
"Paige's impact on our team can be either getting 20 points or being responsible for us getting a lot of easy buckets. She attracts so much attention everywhere she goes, it does a lot for our other players" pic.twitter.com/FnKDhY98uR
Auriemma doesn't seem too concerned about Bueckers' offensive stats.
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.