It’s a Tough Break for Bueckers
The Story: Paige Bueckers will miss up to two months after she was diagnosed with a tibial plateau fracture in her left leg yesterday morning. In some ways, it’s a best-case scenario for Bueckers, given ligament damage was originally expected when she was injured on Sunday.
WHAT IS THAT? A tibial plateau fracture is when the top of the tibia, or shinbone, is cracked. When you think about the shape you’d make when you’re asked to draw a bone ( 🦴 ), one of the knobby parts near Bueckers’ knee was broken.
• Geno Auriemma said after Sunday’s game that doctors believed Bueckers merely hyperextended the knee. That would be a four- to six-week recovery, so this injury is longer, but any other ligament damage could have been long-lasting and led to a trickier recovery. The break will not require surgery, just rest. She should be back in late February. The Jan. 27 rematch against South Carolina is in doubt.
• “We’ve had players get injured in the past and my philosophy here is [that] I’m not interested in how fast we can get someone back; I’m interested in what’s best for them long term,” Geno said. “Every decision made will prioritize what’s best for Paige and her career. Everyone involved with this program will be there to support Paige through her healing process.”
• Bueckers collapsed in the final minute of the Huskies’ win over Notre Dame. She’s averaging 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 36.2 minutes this season while shooting 56.3 percent.
HOW WILL THE HUSKIES COPE? Not well, if Geno’s postgame rant is to be believed. He said he doesn’t like how the Huskies look when Bueckers isn’t playing, so we’ll get to see how he handles that scenario.
• Evina Westbrook should be the Huskies’ primary ballhandler in Bueckers’ absence, with Nika Muhl, Caroline Ducharme or, when she’s healthy, Aubrey Griffin sliding into the starting lineup. Westbrook was in that role during her first two seasons, when she was at Tennessee, and she has run the offense at times with Bueckers on the court. It won’t be anything new to her.
• Bueckers, as we’ve noted, has been playing nearly the entire game her whole career. So have Westbrook and Christyn Williams, which means two or more players will likely need to fill Bueckers’ minutes. But how do the Huskies replace her scoring? Ducharme, who scored 14 points in 14 minutes against the Fighting Irish, may be an option. Remember, Azzi Fudd is also out a few more weeks with a right foot injury.
• UConn’s depth will be tested, but it’s not the same depth it had before the season. With Griffin and Fudd unavailable for now, Muhl is the Huskies’ only other healthy guard.
Hurley Doesn’t Want to be Gun Shy
The Story: The No. 15-ranked men’s basketball team will face its first true road test of the season tonight when it heads to John Denver country to face West Virginia (7 p.m., ESPN2).
WARRIOR’S WISDOM: Back in 2009, Jeff Adrien said he hoped the Huskies’ seven freshmen “won’t run when they see the gun,” referring to the Mountaineers’ mascot. That’s true again 12 years later as UConn (8-1) prepares to incorporate some of its more unproven players against an always difficult opponent known for its full-court press.
• UConn will again be without Adama Sanogo, who is recovering from an abdominal strain, and Tyrese Martin, who has a sprained left wrist. The two, who are among the Huskies’ top three scorers and rebounders, sat out the win over Grambling State on Sunday.
• Freshman Samson Johnson, whom Dan Hurley has said has NBA potential, saw his first significant action of the season against Grambling State when he scored five points and grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. Rahsool Diggins also played 12 minutes and had three points and an assist. It’s unclear how much either will play tonight but their contributions will be crucial.
• The Huskies have not played a marquee opponent on the road in front of a boisterous crowd since the end of the 2019-20 season, when the juniors were wrapping up their first season in the Before Times. That means Andre Jackson and the freshmen are about to receive an unexpected welcome.
• “I can’t remember the last time we played in a hostile environment,” Hurley said. “I’ll let them know the musket, they shoot the musket at halftime and people will be screaming at them. It will be intense, but there is nothing better than what we’re about to experience.”
PRESS YOUR LUCK: The Mountaineers (7-1) have been known for their frantic pressure under coach Bob Huggins. That should pose a challenge for the Huskies, who notably struggled to break the full-court press when they saw it in their three games in the Bahamas two weeks ago.
• R.J. Cole, who has shouldered the Huskies’ scoring load this season, is the only experienced point guard. But he was trapped often by Auburn in UConn’s win and has to show that he can avoid those situations given the capabilities of West Virginia’s smothering defense.
• Akok Akok had six rebounds and four blocks, as well as 10 points, on Sunday in his second start of the season. He played significantly better than he did in his previous start, when he stepped in for Isaiah Whaley against Michigan State and went scoreless with just four rebounds. We’re waiting to see the brilliance we saw when Akok was a freshman, before he tore an Achilles, and Sunday’s performance was a sign of things to come.
ABOUT THE FOE: West Virginia is allowing 63 points and forcing 19.8 turnovers per game and enters tonight on a four-game winning streak.
• Taz Sherman, a 6-foot-4 guard who is in his fifth year, is averaging 21 points per game. He has scored at least 27 points three times this season, including on Saturday in a win over Radford.
Morning Reads
• The women’s volleyball team will make a surprising return to Gampel Pavilion tonight when it hosts North Florida in the quarterfinals of the NIVC. It’s the first time the Huskies will play a postseason game at home. (UConnHuskies.com)
• As we’d expect, Kemba Walker said all the right things when he spoke to reporters for the first time since he was taken out of the rotation by Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau last week. (New York Post)
• Even though he’s been sent to the minor leagues and glued to the bench this season, James Bouknight put on a show Tuesday when he had 11 points and five rebounds off the bench in the Hornets’ overtime loss to the 76ers. (Charlotte Observer)
