UConn standout Paige Bueckers will sit out Tuesday’s home game against Xavier due to a sprained knee, which did not necessitate an MRI, head coach Geno Auriemma informed reporters on Monday.
“We’re optimistic that she’ll be back in about a week,” Auriemma stated, as reported by UConn WBB Weekly’s Daniel Connolly.
Auriemma mentioned, according to ESPN: “You can imagine—she’s more frustrated than anything about having to sit out.”
The diagnosis of her injury as a sprain will bring some relief to a program that has seen Bueckers miss her junior season due to an ACL tear in the same knee.
After missing part of her sophomore 2021-22 season with a fractured left knee, Bueckers was sidelined for the entire 2022-23 season due to the torn ACL.
This season, Bueckers is averaging a Big East-leading 19.9 points per game over 15 games.
She scored 15 points in a blowout victory against Villanova before sustaining her latest injury in a collision with Wildcats guard Jasmine Bascoe, just over a minute before the end of the third quarter. Bueckers was seen in distress, holding her left knee following the incident.
At the time of the collision, UConn was ahead by 26 points.
After the game, Auriemma likened her injury to the knee sprain that kept Azzi Fudd out for three games in December, according to Emily Adams of the Hartford Courant.
“Just like with Azzi, it’s not the worst-case scenario, so that’s positive news given how awkward it looked,” Auriemma remarked on Sunday, as reported by Adams.
The Huskies will now prepare to face Xavier at home and Georgetown on the road without their leading scorer. Freshman forward Sarah Strong may see an increase in playing time while Bueckers is out.
It appears that UConn anticipates having Bueckers back in time for their toughest stretch of the season in February, when they will take on two ranked SEC teams—Tennessee and South Carolina—within two weeks.
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