The UConn women’s basketball team bounced back from its loss to No. 1 South Carolina in the Bahamas in expected fashion, blasting Seton Hall and then No. 22 Notre Dame by a combined 44 points. However, in that game against the Fighting Irish on Sunday, the Huskies saw their sophomore star Paige Bueckers need to be helped off the floor after suffering a non-contact knee injury in the final minute that left UConn fans holding their breath.
On Tuesday, the team announced the results of a CT scan that showed a “tibial plateau fracture” in Bueckers left knee that will keep her out for 6-8 weeks, which means the Huskies will need to navigate the next two months potentially without the services of their leading scorer.
We’re all behind you, Paige
pic.twitter.com/ecVLeWwqYZ
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) December 7, 2021
Even for a program as deep as UConn, replacing a 21.2 points per game scorer is a difficult ask, especially when Bueckers is also, by far, their assist leader at 6.2 per game and their second-leading rebounder at 5.5 a night. Still, this is a team that will be favored in all of its conference games, even without Bueckers, but it’s possible the star will miss the three biggest non-conference games remaining on the schedule. She will assuredly be out when UConn hosts No. 7 Louisville on Dec. 19, but the 6-8 week timetable leaves uncertainty about her status for the Huskies trip to Columbia for a rematch with South Carolina on Jan. 27 and when they play host to long time rivals Tennessee on Feb. 6 (right at the end of the 8 week window).
Hopefully Bueckers can be back for those two huge games, but the Huskies will surely look to take a cautious approach to ensure their star is ready when it matters most in March, because all of those teams could pop up again on the road to a national title.