Geno Auriemma Notes 'Most Impressive' Aspect of Paige Bueckers' UConn Points Total
UConn Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers is currently six points away from reaching the 2,000-point mark in her NCAA Women's Basketball career.
Some expected that Bueckers would reach this historic mark (which would make her UConn's 12th 2000-point scorer and have her surpass basketball icon Maya Moore as the fastest to reach 2,000 points for the Huskies, according to ESPN) during her team's 71-45 win over St. John's on January 15.
However, Bueckers was returning to the court after missing two games due to a knee sprain she suffered and only scored 12 points as a result. Now Bueckers' milestone will likely occur during UConn's January 19 game against Seton Hall.
Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma spoke with the media after his team's practice on Friday. And when asked about Bueckers' scoring success, he discussed what impresses him most about her abilities.
"To me, the most impressive thing is she doesn't take a lot of shots to get to those [scoring] numbers, Auriemma said, per The UConn Daily YouTube account. "And if she took the same number of shots that a player of her caliber would... I think she would have got here a lot quicker, too."
When asked about the most impressive part of her game right now, Auriemma said, "I think just how she makes it look [like] it's never hard, it's not a struggle for her to get her shots off, get the points that she wants.
"Now, there are times when it doesn't look as easy as others, when she passes up a really good shot... she passes up a lot of good s***, for some bulls*** stuff," Auriemma added with a laugh. "And if she would just take the good s***, she would get even more points. But she sometimes tries to do a little more."
Geno sarcastically commenting on Paige Bueckers only taking possibly 102 games to reach 2,000 points:
— Jake McCreven (@mccrevenjake) January 17, 2025
“She passes up a lot of good sh*t, for some bullsh*t.”
Maya Moore is currently the all-time leader in points scored for the Huskies, with 3,036. Bueckers could perhaps surpass that mark if she remained at UConn for one more season.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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