Paige Bueckers' hard work to come back from injury is paying dividends .
After leading UConn to a Final Four appearance, where she lost a thriller 71-69 to Caitlin Clark and Iowa, and averaging 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game last season, Bueckers has been named a nominee for "Best Comeback Athlete" at the ESPYs. She is going up against legendary gymnast Simone Biles, Cleveland Browns signal-caller Joe Flacco and New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson.
Regardless of who ultimately wins the award, the fact that Bueckers was even included with those three players shows how much work the UConn star put in just to be at the top of her game as, for a time, it was unknown how the 22-year-old would perform after missing almost two years to injuries.
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As the most hyped recruit since Breanna Stewart in 2012, Bueckers had very lofty expectations placed on her very early in her career at UConn. Still, it seemed as if the extra attention placed on her did not affect her at all, leading UConn to a win over Marquette at the Big East Tournament title game as a freshman with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists.
She was named the most outstanding player of the conference tournament and continued to lead the Huskies in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. However, UConn's journey would end at the Final Four, as the Huskies were upset by the Wildcats.
Still, Bueckers showed out as a freshman, averaging 20 points, 5.7 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 0.4 blocks in 36.2 minutes per game. With how the season ended for UConn, many pundits believed that the star could lead the Huskies to more glory the next year.
Instead, the season would be filled with heartbreak for Bueckers. In the waning moments of a December 2021 game against Notre Dame, Bueckers injured her left knee.
Unable to walk, Bueckers was carried off the court by her teammates and further tests revealed she had sustained a tibial plateau fracture. While undergoing surgery for the fracture, Bueckers also had additional surgery to repair a tear in her meniscus, causing her to be sidelined until late February.
Despite playing in only 17 games that season and on a minutes restriction - averaging a career-low in most of her counting stats as a result - Bueckers' presence was still felt, as the star helped lead the Huskies to a national championship appearance, losing to Dawn Staley and South Carolina. Bueckers, once again, was poised for a big season in her junior year. But it was not to be.
When did Paige Bueckers tear her ACL?
In August 2022, Bueckers suffered a catastrophic injury during a pickup game: A torn ACL. "I knew it was bad. I felt a pop. I'm not really sure if I heard it, but I felt it for sure. I knew something was wrong," Bueckers told the UConn Blog in the weeks after the injury.
"When they posted it and the texts came through, all the posts came through, when I saw that, then it really became real life. Everybody knows about it. It really happened. I had to own it." Bueckers admitted being frustrated with the recovery process because mentally, she was ready to play, but physically, she was not able to.
Ultimately, she had to accept the fact that her junior season was lost and all she could do was prepare for the next year, regardless of how she felt. "I'm not gonna play the season just because if I come back too soon, then something else is gonna get injured," she said. "I really just want to be 110 percent healthy before I ever play basketball against just because I never want to take a break like this again, ever, in my career."
In November 2023, Bueckers made her return after 584 days on the shelf, scoring eight points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists in 21 minutes of action against Dayton. Even though she had to undergo major surgeries in two of her four years at UConn, Bueckers would not change it for anything and used those injuries as fuel in her path to greatness, as evidenced by her nomination.
"I wouldn’t trade my life for the world, I know that everything I went through up to this point has shaped me to be who I am as a person and as a player,” Bueckers told ESPN in 2023, per Just Women's Sports. "If I didn’t go through some of the things I went through, I wouldn’t be who I am. The story I want is just the story of overcoming adversity.
“Obviously I wish there could have been no injuries, but it’s just a part of my story and a part of my journey in life. But definitely hoping to make the most of the time I have left here.”
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