Paige Bueckers Backs UConn Teammate Sarah Strong After Free Throw Miss in Loss to USC
The UConn Huskies vs. USC Trojans women's basketball game on Saturday night lived up to all the hype it had received leading up to the contest.
With what appeared to be a packed home stadium and many thousands more fans watching this highly-anticipated game at home, these two top-10 ranked teams produced an instant classic, with USC ultimately getting revenge on UConn for knocking them out in the Elite Eight round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
While superstars JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers stole the show, the game came down to Huskies freshman Sarah Strong, who was fouled when shooting a three-pointer with just a few seconds left to play and her team down three points.
Strong — who finished the game with 22 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals — sank the first free throw to make it a two-point game.
She then missed the second free throw.
At that point, it made the most sense for Strong to miss the third free throw intentionally so that her team could have one final shot. And that's exactly what happened, although that final shot (which Strong took) didn't come close to going in.
Bueckers and Strong both spoke in the postgame press conference. And Bueckers started by saying, "Just to be clear, that game was not won or lost with those three free throws. Sarah was a huge part of that second-half comeback and the reason we were even in the game.
"But for her to continue to show up on this stage, and continue to play as well as she has, continue to affect the game in so many different ways... I don't want people to get the wrong impression that she didn't impact this same tremendously in a very positive way, and this game was not decided in the last minute with those free throws," she added, per SNY.
"Just to be clear, that game was not won or lost with those three free throws. Sarah was a huge part of that second half comeback and the reason we were even in the game."
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) December 22, 2024
Paige Bueckers on Sarah Strong's performance tonight: pic.twitter.com/1bUtZK8OdL
It's awesome to see Bueckers backing up her freshman teammate in this way, which is sure to give Strong confidence as the season continues.
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.