“It’s what you live for”: Paige Bueckers buckles up for games against USC’s JuJu Watkins, Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks and more
As Paige Bueckers nears her last college season, coach Geno Auriemma has ensured some of the toughest battles to prepare her for the big league. However, for Bueckers, it's nothing short of a dream coming true.
When asked about UConn's tough slate of competition at the Big East Media Day, Paige Bueckers felt prepared, as the high stakes and high-intensity moments are exactly what she had imagined as a kid.
"It's fun; it's what you live for as a competitor," Bueckers said (0:54). "UConn has never shied away from the tough non-conference schedule, and it's just what you dream as a kid, playing in those huge games in these amazing environments with high stakes, with big names and just obviously, just the atmosphere.
"So, it's everything you dream of as a kid. And to be able to do that, especially being in my last year, it'll be a lot of fun."
Within the first few weeks of beginning their season, UConn will play Tar Heels on Nov. 16.
Top matchups in December begin with visiting Notre Dame on Dec. 13. Paige Bueckers will then face off against JuJu Watkins and USC on Nov. 21. It will be one of the biggest games of the NCAAW season, as Watkins is expected to be the next face of college basketball.
The next pair of big games come in February, when the Huskies travel to face the Tennessee Volunteers on Feb. 7. As teams across the circuit could draw a general picture for the NCAA tournament, the Huskies face defending champions South Carolina Gamecocks on Feb. 16.
Paige Bueckers wants her teammates to not shy away from taking charge
A constant theme around Bueckers game this summer has been Geno Auriemma's advice for her to be more selfish. In essence, Auriemma wants Bueckers to take more shots and put more pressure on the basket than she usually does.
As Paige Bueckers builds on Auriemma's approach, she doesn't want her teammates to be passive. Instead, she believes that the only way to win is when her teammates also remain aggressive throughout the game.
"Just because I'm aggressive, I don't want that my other teammates aren't aggressive as well," Bueckers said in the same interview (2:13). "I don't want them to defer to me. I don't want them to be like 'Paige hasn't gotten a touch in a while.' I feel like it'll happen naturally. I'll be looking more to score when I have the ball, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop passing.
"Everything's not going to change. I'm just going to look to shoot more, to score more, and I feel like that'll obviously open up a lot of other opportunities for my teammates as well."
The first glimpse of 2024-25 UConn will come in the exhibition game against Fort Hays State on Nov. 3. The Huskies begin their season on Nov. 8, against Boston University at Hartford, Connecticut.