Paige Bueckers’ knee injury puts a damper on the UConn star’s final game at Villanova

A sold-out Finneran Pavilion crowd abruptly went silent as Paige Bueckers’ body awkwardly twisted while going for a loose ball, then crashed to the floor. So silent that, after spending several seconds clutching her left knee and grimacing in pain, the Connecticut All-American’s voice boomed through the building before being helped to her feet.

“That’s a flagrant foul!” Bueckers hollered.

It was understandable that television cameras caught multiple UConn teammates watching wide-eyed from the bench on Sunday. But the collective concern throughout the gym illustrated Buckers’ popularity that drew such a massive crowd, and its keen understanding of what she has been through during a brilliant yet injury-riddled college career.

Although Bueckers’ premature exit from the seventh-ranked Huskies’ dominant 83-52 victory over Villanova put a scare in her final appearance in Philly as the latest UConn superstar, legendary coach Geno Auriemma was optimistic after the game that the extent of injury was “not the worst thing that we could imagine” in his program’s latest quest for the Final Four and national title.

“Over the last couple years, when things happen, [you] automatically just kind of shake your head and try not to think of the worst,” Auriemma said. “… You can’t predict some of this stuff. She feels, I’m sure, like anybody else would — [ticked] probably more than anything.”

The 100th game of Bueckers’ UConn career — which has already been interrupted twice by serious knee injuries — began with simmering excitement. On a Sunday afternoon that included the Eagles’ regular-season finale at Lincoln Financial Field and Penn State men’s basketball facing Indiana at the Palestra, a line at Finneran Pavilion had already formed two hours before tipoff.

The crowd was filled with white and navy blue UConn No. 5 jerseys, and “Paige Buckets” T-shirts. As spectators filed in, many congregated to the side of the court where Bueckers stretched with a resistance band. One held up a poster asking for an autograph. Another, for a picture for her birthday. Fans in one corner stuck out their hands for high fives as Bueckers led the Huskies back into the locker room. In the opposite corner, Villanova’s men’s basketball team watched from the upper deck.

» READ MORE: Geno Auriemma knows Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong can carry UConn to the top in March

Bueckers’ untimely injury came after an excellent third quarter, when she got rolling as a scorer and facilitator. After a three-point attempt rimmed out, she sank two midrange jumpers. Then she dished to fellow star Azzi Fudd for a corner three-pointer, delivered a nifty bounce pass to Sarah Strong for an inside finish, and found Jana El Alfy for an and-one conversion that gave UConn a 61-37 lead with 3 minutes, 15 seconds to play in the period.

She dialed up another deep jumper before the injury, and Bueckers finished with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, nine assists, three steals, and three rebounds in 25 minutes.

“They move the ball extremely well,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “But [Bueckers] recognizes, when it comes down to it, they need a bucket, she’s the one that’s going to take it.”

Bueckers, the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft and former national player of the year, is among those now carrying the women’s college basketball mantle left by instant legend Caitlin Clark. Fourth-ranked USC’s JuJu Watkins was set to play Rutgers on Sunday night before a marquee matchup at No. 8 Maryland on Wednesday. Hannah Hidalgo, who hails from Merchantville, N.J., continues to star for third-ranked Notre Dame.

Auriemma — who was honored beforehand for becoming the game’s all-time winningest coach in his 40th season at UConn — has watched the sport explode into the mainstream in recent years. He believes it is because college women’s basketball fandom has shifted from primarily school-centric to gaining more appreciation for individual players on other teams and the game as a whole.

“There’s not more stars than there were back then,” said Auriemma, whose past players include Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and Breanna Stewart. “But there’s more attention paid to the stars that are out there. … So you have a crowd like today, and that didn’t happen before. We might have had all those stars, but we didn’t have these [kinds] of crowds. We had big crowds, but not everywhere we go, like this. …

“I’m not one of those to say, ‘Yeah, it should have happened 25 years ago. You missed Diana Taurasi in her prime. You missed Maya Moore in her prime. Blah, blah, blah. You missed Stewie in her prime.’ No, things happen for a reason, and they happen when they happen.

“The only thing that would [tick] you off is if it never happened. But it did happen, and it is happening, and I think it will continue to happen. There’s just so many good teams out there, so many good coaches. If we keep doing our part, it won’t go away.”

Those women’s basketball fans cheered when Bueckers emerged from the locker room a few minutes following her frightening tumble. She spent the fourth quarter with ice strapped to that left knee, and to her ankle and foot. She dropped her head for a few minutes, then held it in her hands for much of the stretch run. She did not stand with teammates and staff while putting her hand out for high fives during substitutions, or while celebrating big plays.

She draped a towel over her head as she walked off the court with a slight limp, slapping hands lining the same tunnel that fans had flocked to about two hours earlier.

Bueckers’ injury put a damper on the day she made her final college appearance in the Philly area. But the Huskies are hopeful it will not derail their season.

“Of course, you’re all [thinking] in the back of our minds, like, ‘Hopefully it’s not anything bad,’” teammate KK Arnold said. “But, of course, seeing her walk off the floor and everything, knowing that she was OK, it was just finishing the game strong for her, for coaches, for our team.”