“Paige Bueckers and Frank Ocean is a beautiful thing”: College hoops fans relish UConn star’s mellow highlight compilation
After opening the season 2-0, the UConn Huskies honored their star guard Paige Bueckers through a brief mixtape. The post, put out by the UConn WBB Instagram page on Tuesday, pieced together Bueckers' highlights from Monday's game against the South Florida Bulls.
The senior guard posted 22 points on 90% shooting (9-10), three rebounds and two steals as UConn stormed to a 86-49 win.
The video begins with the Huskies' pre-game rituals with singer Frank Ocean's "Pink+White" song playing in the background. Bueckers dominated the paint in the montage as most of her points came from near the basket. She also shared a post-game moment with teammate KK Arnold.
As the post garnered over 20k likes within four hours, fans flooded the comment section to praise the program's musical choice in the edit:
"PAIGE AND FRANK IS ALL I NEED," a fan wrote.
"FRANK AND PAIGE BUECKERS BASKETBALL 😮💨😮💨😮💨," another fan commented.
"PAIGE AND FRANK OCEAN IS A BEAUTIFUL THING!," another fan wrote.
More fans chipped in to appreciate the mixtape:
"It's the outro handshake for me 🔥💙," a fan commented.
"This was the only correct song choice," another fan wrote.
"Frank ocean + paige = my two loves," another fan commented.
Geno Auriemma praised Paige Bueckers' impact on UConn's roster
Geno Auriemma believes that his UConn team, including Bueckers, was passive near the end of the first half against USF. But the Huskies soon resorted back to sharing the ball and spacing the floor. The loudest moment of the game came from Bueckers’ outburst.
Nineteen of Paige Bueckers’ 22 points came in the first half. Seven of those came in the first four minutes of the game. She scored eight points in the last 5:20 of the half, as UConn scored 11 points in the last 2:15 minutes.
"Well, that's kind of what we've been seeing in practice every day,” Geno Auriemma said in the half-time interview.
“She wants the ball, she wants to score in a lot of different ways, she can score in a lot of different ways, so we're trying to put her in a lot of different spots on the court. But you know I like the way, I like the way we finished the half and I hope we can continue that in the second half." (0:48)
Geno Auriemma has demanded more aggression out of Paige Bueckers this summer. He wants the guard to trust her skillset and constantly aim to score throughout the game.