AP Photo/Noah K. Murray
UConn women’s basketball superstar point guard Paige Bueckers will return to the court Friday when the Huskies host St. John’s.
ESPN’s Alexa Philippou relayed the news:
Bueckers suffered an anterior tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear to her left knee during a 73-54 win over Notre Dame on Dec. 5. She underwent surgery on Dec. 13, and UConn said then that her expected recovery time was eight weeks.
Bueckers went through warmups prior to UConn’s 69-38 win over Marquette on Wednesday, per Daniel Connolly of The UConn Blog:
And now it looks like she’ll be good to go when the Red Storm roll into Storrs on Friday.
The sophomore averaged 21.2 points (56.3 percent shooting), 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.7 steals in six games this year.
Bueckers’ first season at UConn ended with her winning the AP Player of the Year, the Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Nancy Lieberman Award and the John R. Wooden award, among other accolades. She was also named a unanimous first-team All-American. The Huskies ended up making the Final Four, where they fell to Arizona.
This season, Bueckers is returning to a 20-5 Huskies team (14-1 Big East) ranked seventh in the Associated Press poll. The Huskies are riding a five-game winning streak that has featured them outscoring their opponents by 34.6 points per game along the way.
When she returns, Bueckers will have the opportunity to play with a healthy first-year superstar in Azzi Fudd. The two suited up for four games together at the beginning of the year, but Fudd was playing through a foot injury that ended up sidelining her for two months.
She’s been back for a month and shooting the lights out, though, making 45.5 percent of her three-pointers while averaging 12.7 points per game.
Now they’ll look to team up and help lead UConn to a national title alongside other standouts like Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
The Huskies have one more regular-season game after the St. John’s matchup (Sunday at home versus Providence) before the Big East Tournament starts.
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