Paige and her 'bad game'

[Blakeon18]

Bueckers grateful for 'bad game' after absence

Paige Bueckers, who tore her ACL in August 2022, played her first competitive game in 584 days on Wednesday, finishing with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in UConn's season-opening win over Dayton.

www.espn.com

She says she is OK with it because she is on the court and not merely a spectator as last year.
Geno a 'pleaser'?

Bet she has a serious bounce-back at North Carolina State.

 

[huskeynut]

Paige will be fine. She will shake the rust off.

She should be better on Sunday. But she has a terrific team around her and she doesn't have to carry the load.

 

[Aluminny69]

Her misses were all short. I'm a little surprised she didn't make in-game adjustment, but I'm sure she will improve.

Over the season, I'm not sure she will get the numbers to get National recognition. This is due to her "share the wealth" mentality.

 

[Charliebball]

Her misses were all short. I'm a little surprised she didn't make in-game adjustment, but I'm sure she will improve.

Over the season, I'm not sure she will get the numbers to get National recognition. This is due to her "share the wealth" mentality.

I noticed that she was both missing short and forcing shots, two things she almost never does.........I'm sure she was pressing and at the same time that splint on her hand didn't help matters even if it is on her off-hand.........better days to come!!

 

[Zarathustra]

Paige does not have " bad " games....... she is merely working off the rust! I
am reminded of the quote from Mark Twain... but we all know that one... correct??

 

[jabstep]

Paige in this next game knows what she has to do. Take good shots and get other players good shots. Any big NCS will not be able to run with AE and Aubrey. Azzi is going to light it up. Ice will play up to her abilities.

 

[TCC Kid]

I noticed that she was both missing short and forcing shots, two things she almost never does.........I'm sure she was pressing and at the same time that splint on her hand didn't help matters even if it is on her off-hand.........better days to come!!

Expectations of her own, coaching and fans--are a very very difficult thing to live with. Paige has a personality, and a record to prove it, that she was as near perfect in all things basketball. Her personal expectation surely exceeds mine for me. In a game or 3 she''ll be the OLD Paige of that I have no doubt.
Bad game? Her dishing the ball was better than her passing prior to injury. Her initial layup--was done with FORCE---this is ME and I am Paige--look out.
I don't worry about Paige nor Edwards nor Nika, a bit about Caroline, Not a bit about Griffin (she's a Pro), Samuels--I worry she may stop shooting. KK--she is developing and my heart won't stop thumping, ICE--I worry a bit about injuries. All and all if this team 9 or more stay healthy--Geno shall own a FF once more--The NC is a crap shoot, ever when you are perfect.

 

[TCC Kid]

Paige in this next game knows what she has to do. Take good shots and get other players good shots. Any big NCS will not be able to run with AE and Aubrey. Azzi is going to light it up. Ice will play up to her abilities.

I agree! But, Paige, if she delivers the ball where it must go to whom it must go--she may not need to score.

 

[PhillyCoach]

Six players had double figure points---and Paige was not one of them. Patience is still a virtue, right? Need some help here - if the minutes are spread like this most of the time UConn could have 6 -7-8 players with double figure averages. I know that is a stretch. Question - what is the NCAA record for most double figure scorers on one team? One game, conference only or season? Non-starters Aubrey, KK, Shade, and Q can fill it up!

 

[ctkaiser]

Probably has a lot on her mind like what am I going to do with all this NIL money! Seriously though even a great player like Paige has to work off the rust. I too think the NC State game will have her rising to the challenge vs a better quality opponent. Greatly looking forward to seeing her improve throughout the season.

 

[Oldschoolbb]

Watching her last night, I don't think she's 100% recovered yet. Hopefully she will do the remainder of recovery quickly. Still a heck of a bball player.

 

[oldude]

Paige didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. But aside from that, she played some of the best defense I have seen since she arrived at UConn, she did her usual, efficient job passing the ball and she heeded Geno’s challenge to step up her rebounding efforts in the absence of Dorka.

I am not at all concerned about her shooting. Paige is being hard on herself because that’s the kind of player she is.

 

[sun]

I won't believe that Paige is 100% as long as she has her thumb & wrist taped up .
Having it wrapped up during games is a reminder that it's still bothering her or she wouldn't tape it.
Grrrrrrr.....

 

[Rowdy831]

Paige didn't shoot too good Wednesday night but did she really have a bad game? I don't think she really did since she did have a few rebounds, assists and steals. Now read about Caitlin Clark's game last night and everyone was talking about how wonderful she played because she scored 44 points. Her shooting was 13-31 for the game, is that a great game? I would say both players played under their capability but the perception is totally different. Great players like Paige and Caitlin are held to a much higher standard than other good players and they wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[ctkaiser]

13 for 31 is pretty good. Probably took a lot of 3s.

 

[JellyBean]

Paige has such perspective. She is so mature. "Bad" game for her but she has the mindset of being grateful just to play again with her teammates. Paige will bounce back to her level of play that she expects from herself.

 

[huskiemaniac]

13 for 31 is pretty good. Probably took a lot of 3s.

5-16 on 3s…

 

[Bigboote]

Her misses were all short. I'm a little surprised she didn't make in-game adjustment, but I'm sure she will improve.

I expected Nika to say, “Paige use yout legs” at halftime and Paige to come out and sink five threes in the second half.

 

[Zarathustra]

13 for 31 is pretty good. Probably took a lot of 3s.

She was also getting a workout .... of walking to the Free-throw line! Great Game, Caitlin!
You really know how to draw those fouls.

 

[diggerfoot]

In the post game presser Bueckers voice sounded lower than usual. She also sniffled a couple times. Being under the weather could make one’s shots fall short.

 

[Ozimoto]

I jammed a thumb so badly from a bad hop playing baseball (the ball hit the end of my ungloved hand) that it took several months to heal. No broken bones, but the ligaments were all messed up and swollen to the point it took that long to get the normal range of motion back in the thumb. It's now a source of arthritis discomfort to me. Good times....

I think she's going to have it wrapped for quite a while, unfortunately.

 

[ctkaiser]

5-16 on 3s…

I think you'd like to see a higher percentage but who's telling her to stop shooting them.

 

[Bone Dog]

Caitlin has had lots of great games. She often single-handedly engineers wins for Iowa. She makes them an NC contender. Against VPI, her teammates shot poorly and she picked up the slack.

Still, I sometimes wonder if her great games are good for the rest of the team. I mean, beyond the W-L column. Playing next to a superstar high volume shooter may increase the pressure on other shooters on the team. They may think, “If I miss, will people think I should have passed it to Caitlin?”

In her defense, Caitlin gets lots of assists. It’s not like she’s excluding her teammates from the scoring column. And I’m sure Bluder encourages the others to shoot more. But 31 shots in a game means they deferred to her, maybe more than they should have. As tends to be the case with high volume shooters, that’s the team Caitlin has built for herself.

When Caitlin has been shut down, like by Nika, others have usually stepped up. This says to me that a different team culture has always been possible.