Paige Bueckers has guided UConn back to the Final Four, and now she has one final shot at making her national championship dream come true.
The title has eluded her in all three of her previous NCAA tournament appearances, but the presumptive No. 1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft has a chance to end her college career on a high.
Bueckers lifted the No. 2 seed Huskies to a 78-64 win over USC in the Spokane 4 Regional final on Monday night, dropping 31 points and six assists in another eye-catching performance.
The win clinched UConn’s 16th Final Four appearance in 17 years, and their 24th overall in March Madness.
It was also a historic one for Bueckers herself, who posted her third straight 30+ point game, totaling more than 100 points in a three-game stretch for the first time in UConn history.
She has now moved to third all-time in the program’s scoring history, behind only Breanna Stewart and Maya Moore.
‘Paige Buckets’ has led UConn to the Final Four in each season she’s played for them, but suffered heartbreak in the national championship game back in 2022.
This year, she will be looking to finish with glory ahead of entering the pro league.
The Huskies will face No. 1 overall seed UCLA in a national semifinal Friday evening in Tampa, Florida.
If they can negotiate their way through that, the defending champion South Carolina Gamecocks, or Texas Longhorns, will await in the showpiece game.
Finishing her college career with a national title will be fitting for a player like Bueckers, and according to Shannon Sharpe, she is already showing shades of Caitlin Clark as she prepares to enter the WNBA.
“Paige ‘Buckets’… 31 points, six assists, that’s coming off a game in which she dropped 40,” Sharpe began on Nightcap, breaking down her latest performance.
“UConn is going to be tough, they’re good. The way Paige is playing… you remember when Caitlin Clark when on that run, blowing up everybody?
“Paige Bueckers is having that type of game.
“She dropped 40, then she dropped 31. That’s going to be difficult to handle.”
While Sharpe didn’t outright suggest that UConn will be favorites to make the championship game, he did admit that the Huskies will be tough for UCLA to overcome on Friday night.
He continued: “It’s going to be a very tough match up for UCLA, but UCLA say, ‘We belong. We’re ranked number one.’
“It’s going to be a great match up, I can’t wait to see it.”
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Bueckers, meanwhile, has insisted she isn’t focused on winning the national title, but instead suggested UConn are hoping to extend their season as much as they can.
“Honestly, we just want to keep our season going as long as possible. We all love playing together,” she said after advancing to the Final Four.
“We love playing here. We just love this program and everything it means. So we want it to keep going as long as possible.
“Whether your season is ending or your career is ending, you want to stay in one game at a time, one practice at a time, one possession at a time, and just focus on that and maximizing that, and not getting too caught up in the future.
“But you do know in the back of your mind that every possession counts. And it’ll be my last season here at UConn.
“You try to just stay in the present.”
How to watch March Madness in the UK
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March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions.
This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years.
talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to watch is through Sky Sports. The broadcaster will be showing EVERY March Madness game through their Sky Sports + streaming service.
Click here to sign up to a Sky Sports subscription, or read our article on the best Sky Sports deals available now.
