Arike Ogunbowale Shares Sage Advice She Gave Paige Bueckers During Rookie Season

Ogunbowale's advice seemed to influence Bueckers as she erupted for 35 points on Thursday night.

Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale wait to enter a game on the sidelines. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Paige Bueckers is seven games into her rookie WNBA season with the Dallas Wings. Even just a couple months in, Bueckers has bulit a strong connection with various Wings teammates, including four-time WNBA All-Star Arike Ogunbowale.

Ogunbowale has been impressed with Bueckers, as much of the rest of the WNBA world has, but there was one note the veteran player gave the rookie shortly into the season: be more aggressive as a scorer.

“I kind of was talking to her a lot in college, too. Like just 'be more aggressive' because [in the WNBA] it’s like you need to score, and you're a scorer,” Ogunbowale said on Sue Bird's Bird Eye View podcast. “I know she has that [passing gesture] mindset but I think people saw, especially in that [NCAA] run, she started going crazy. She was looking really good. So, it’s just like be aggressive, like score and like nobody will ever get mad at you doing this, taking shots because that’s what we need from you truly.”

Bueckers seemed to really listen to this advice as she scored a WNBA career-high on Thursday night by totaling 35 points in the team's loss to the Phoenix Mercury. She happened to tie last year's No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark's career-high with the game.

Bueckers's scoring explosion on Thursday came after she missed the Wings' previous four matchups, three for a concussion and one for an illness. The time off didn't seem to bother her, though.

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