Shortly after Paige Bueckers went down with a non-contact injury in the final minute of UConn’s Dec. 5 home game against Notre Dame while leading by 18 points, Geno Auriemma told reporters Bueckers was still in the game partly because “she’s a pain in the ass to have on the bench because all she does is complain about why she’s not playing.” But he also admitted, “I don’t like our team without her on the court.”
One week and two Bueckers-less games later, an ugly loss followed by an uplifting win, we’ve gotten a glimpse of who UConn is without its star player.
The Huskies’ 57-44 loss to Georgia Tech was the first time since 2006 that a UConn squad had scored fewer than 45 points in a game and the first time since 2012 that it had lost to an unranked opponent. It also dropped UConn to No. 7 in the AP poll this week, its lowest ranking since 2007.
After the loss, Auriemma told the media, “We’re disorganized as a group right now, from the coaching on down, everybody. There’s just no sense of [having] a plan of how we’re going to execute, how we’re going to get a bucket, who’s going to get it for us.”
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Auriemma and his staff are no doubt hoping this marks their low point of the season, especially now that they are down to eight active players after two entered the transfer portal, and Azzi Fudd, Nika Mühl and Aubrey Griffin are out with their own respective injuries. All four injured players are expected to make full recoveries this season, with Bueckers’ return timeline being the longest. The sophomore is expected to miss eight weeks as she recovers from a successful surgery to repair an anterior tibial plateau fracture and a lateral meniscus tear.
The diminished squad followed up the Georgia Tech loss with a much-needed confidence boost when they beat UCLA 71-61 last Saturday. But its biggest challenges are on the horizon, the first of which comes Sunday against No. 6 Louisville’s strong defensive squad.
“I think the biggest thing that’s an issue is consistency. Just because we see them put it together at the end of the UCLA game, they’re going to have to try to do that coming off an exam week against a better team in Louisville,” says Alexa Philippou, who covers the program around the clock for Connecticut’s Hartford Courant.
With three other top-ten matchups on the calendar before Bueckers is expected back, the Huskies’ response to this identity crisis will be put to the test repeatedly. Here’s what we know so far about who UConn is without the reigning National Player of the Year.
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