HARTFORD, Conn. — Paige Bueckers, the 2021 national player of the year who tore her ACL in August 2022, returned to action Wednesday, helping No. 2 UConn start its season with a 102-58 win over Dayton at the XL Center.
In her first game in 584 days, Bueckers finished with 8 points on 3-for-9 shooting with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal in 21 minutes before sitting the entire fourth quarter.
“In my opinion it was a bad game for me,” Bueckers said, “but I’m grateful to have a bad game right now.”
“The game doesn’t all of a sudden leave you when you haven’t played, but it also doesn’t automatically come back that fast, either,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma added. “Given that it was the first game, I thought she was what I thought she would be, and she’ll be better on Sunday and she’ll be better next Thursday.”
A bad game by Bueckers standards still had highlights. The former All-American, who also battled knee injuries her sophomore season, started and looked…
