HARTFORD –- The last time Paige Bueckers was on the floor for an actual game that counted was in her hometown of Minneapolis for the NCAA championship against South Carolina.
It was April 3, 2022, only 18 months ago, but it seemed like much longer for UConn fans.
Wednesday night, Bueckers was back and UConn was back in its season opener against Dayton and got a big ovation from the XL Center crowd when she was introduced. The ghosts of last season’s final game in Seattle, far away from home – when UConn failed to advance to the Final Four for the first time in 15 years – were finally gone and a new season had started.
Bueckers hit her first shot, a layup with 8:17 left. She got yelled at by Geno Auriemma after she left the game late in the first quarter as UConn won its season opener handily 102-58 over Dayton.
“Just excited to be back out there,” Bueckers said. “Last year, sitting on the bench, I would have done anything just to be out there and get yelled at. Just a different perspective I have now.”
Bueckers had six points in the first quarter, three rebounds and an assist. Auriemma subbed liberally – a luxury he did not have last year when injuries limited the roster – and Bueckers finished with eight points on 3 of 9 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in 17 minutes. She did not play in the fourth quarter when UConn led by 40.
The Huskies used 10 players in the first half. UConn’s bench outscored Dayton, coached by former Huskies star Tamika Williams-Jeter, 38-17.
Aaliyah Edwards led six Huskies in double figures with 23 points on 10 for 12 shooting, along with nine rebounds and two blocks. Azzi Fudd added 13 points and Aubrey Griffin 12.
Auriemma was pleased with some aspects of the first game, not so much with others.
“We do silly things at the worst possible times that sometimes the score clouds,” he said. “Now we can go to practice on Friday and Saturday and hopefully by Sunday we’ll have chipped away at a few of those things. We got to get better defensively, keep fouls to a minimum, rebound better – we’re going to have our hands full the next two weeks.
“Ball movement, spread the floor, shared the ball – that looked good for the first time out. I like that the game changes depending on the combinations you have out there and what kind of defense you can play changes. I wanted to experiment with as many different looks as I can and I think today we had an opportunity to do that.”
Back to her old stomping grounds: Dayton coach Tamika Williams-Jeter returns to take on UConn
There were a lot of firsts Wednesday. Ice Brady, who missed the entire season last year after dislocating her patella last October, hit her first shot, a turnaround jumper in the paint, with 7:26 left in the first half. Freshman KK Arnold got her first UConn points on two free throws with a minute left in the first quarter and ended up with eight points, seven assists and four steals. Qadence Samuels hit her debut 3-pointer with 2:55 left in the first half (she had 11 points) and another freshman, Ashlynn Shade got her first UConn rebound and first assist in the first half.
UConn got a head start even before the game started when Dayton gave the officials the wrong number of one of its players and Azzi Fudd shot two free throws for the administrative technical foul.
Dayton was simply overmatched and by the end of the first quarter, UConn led 26-13. The Flyers did hang around a little, but UConn pulled away in the second quarter. The Huskies led 59-31 at halftime.
Edwards led UConn with 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the first half and had five rebounds.
Bueckers came back in the third quarter and promptly hit a jump shot to start things off. She left the game at 7:42 and returned with 4:54 left in the third. Two minutes later, she stole the ball and fed Edwards with an outlet pass for a layup that gave UConn an 81-38 lead.
Bueckers was on the floor at the end of the third with Griffin, Brady, Shade and Samuels. She missed her last two shots at the end of the quarter and was done.