Paige Bueckers felt 'weird' watching UConn Final Four loss
UConn alumna Paige Bueckers felt "weird" watching UConn from the sideline during the Final Four loss to South Carolina on April 3.
PHOENIX ― UConn alumna Paige Bueckers was on the sideline during the Huskies' 62-48 loss to South Carolina Friday night, unable to help her former team. Bueckers was in Phoenix to watch the Huskies add to their trophy case . Instead, college basketball's best team melted under the Gamecocks defensive pressure.
UConn also couldn't surpass South Carolina offensively, as they have with so many other teams, to stay undefeated. As Bueckers and other UConn greats like Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi and Napheesa Collier watched courtside and from the stands, the Dallas Wings guard says it felt strange not to be playing in the biggest game of the season. "It was really weird just to be there on the sideline and not suiting up.
I felt like I should have been in all those huddles, in the timeouts and on the floor," Bueckers told USA TODAY Sports while promoting an NIL deal-turned partnership with Madison Reed , that dates back to her time at UConn. "It was definitely like (an) out-of-body experience, kind of being in a different seat. Bueckers, who wore her signature braids from her college basketball days and UConn gear, says she wishes she could have hopped in and put her jersey on for old time's sake.
She joked that she was "halfway there" with the brainds. The Huskies legend also had to deal with some trash talk from South Carolina alum A'ja Wilson. Bueckers admits that after the Huskies' loss, she didn't want to talk to Wilson, who came to collect on a pregame bet .