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UConn's Geno Auriemma Gives Optimistic Update Amid Paige Bueckers Knee Injury Scare

UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma was "optimistic" about Paige Bueckers after an injury scare during Sunday's game.

Grant Young

Dec 17, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) returns up court against the Iowa State Cyclones in the first half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Dec 17, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) returns up court against the Iowa State Cyclones in the first half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

The No. 7 ranked UConn Huskies women's basketball team improved to 13-2 in the 2024-25 NCAA season on Sunday after they defeated the Villanova Wildcats by a score of 83-52 on the road.

While the Huskies essentially cruised to an easy win, it might have been the most stressful UConn game of the entire season after what happened to star guard Paige Bueckers.

At one point in the third quarter, Bueckers was chasing after a loose ball when a Villanova player dove for the ball and crashed into the side of Bueckers' left leg.

The Huskies star and projected No. 1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft rolled awkwardly on the ground and immediately began writhing in pain. She then limped off the court and into the locker room.

While this would have been concerning for any player, it was especially so for Bueckers because she tore the ACL in that same left knee back in August 2022, which caused her to miss an entire year of action.

Bueckers returned to the bench shortly after and could be seen wiping tears out of her eyes as she sat down. She didn't return to the game.

While nothing about this situation looked good, Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma showed positivity when speaking with SNY after the game ended.

"She's pretty good," Auriemma said of Bueckers, per an X post from SNY. "It was unfortunate. The kid dove for the ball, and I'm sure people saw it. Paige turned her back, and it was a weird situation.

"But she'll be fine," Auriemma later added. "She looks good. I'm optimistic, let's put it that way. I feel good."

He spoke more about Bueckers' injury during his postgame press conference.

"She just has some ice on it right now. It's like what I said about Azzi, when these freaky things that [can] happen when somebody runs into you. Like when it was with Azzi, it's not the worst that we can imagine, so that's great news considering how awkward it was," he said, per SNY.

While there's surely still more testing and updates to come, this has got to be music to UConn fans' ears.

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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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