Paige Bueckers is ready to return to action with the UConn women’s basketball team. Out since Dec. 5 with a knee injury, she was cleared by the medical staff to play Friday night against St. John’s.
Bueckers, the national player of the year as a freshman, was injured on Dec. 5 in the final minutes of a victory over Notre Dame. Diagnosed with an anterior tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear, she underwent surgery on Dec. 13.
She was averaging 21.2 points through six games. The Huskies played 19 games without her, going 15-4, clinching the Big East regular-season title on Wednesday.
Bueckers will certainly be limited in minutes, probably playing a short stint Friday, then a little more Sunday against Providence to slowly build up for the postseason. UConn, ranked seventh nationally, will start play in the Big East tournament at Mohegan Sun on March 5.
Coach Geno Auriemma said earlier this week that Bueckers was unlikely to return before the end of the regular season, but noted that she has a way of healing quicker than expected. She dressed and went through warmups with the team before Wednesday’s game against Marquette as part of her incremental rehab process, then was cleared to play after a meeting Thursday morning with Dr. Robert Arciaro, chief of orthopedic surgery at UConn Health.
“About a month ago, she walked in to athletic training room and she had a big swollen knee and everybody said ‘this is not good,’ and ‘this is going to set you back a long time,’” Auriemma said. “And she came back two days later and it was gone. I said, ‘what happened?’ and she said, ‘I’m different. I told God I needed the swelling to go down, and it went down.’
“I kid you not, this is the kind of stuff I’ve got to listen to. So the kid just has this knack. She heals at her own pace. We’ll see what happens. ‘Punxsutawney Paige’ If she sees her shadow, two more weeks of rehab? I don’t know.”
All good for Bueckers, the 5-foot-11 sophomore who averaged 20 points, 5.7 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals to lead the Huskies to the programs 13th consecutive Final Four in 2020-21.
