Paige Bueckers is OK with easing back into the rotation for UConn women's basketball.
The reigning national player of the year came off the bench in her return Friday from a December leg injury. In 13 minutes, she contributed eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, two rebounds and an assist in the No. 7 Huskies' 93-38 rout of St. John's.
Bueckers and UConn coach Geno Auriemma both noted that the guard is fitting back into a team that grew in her absence.
"I'm not really focused about me and getting back to the old me and doing what I did before because we're such a different team now," Bueckers said, per ESPN.com. "So whatever my team needs me to do, I'm going to try to do it."
"The team that she came back to is a better team, has a better understanding of what we're trying to do, has more players that can do more things than they could do the last time she played," Auriemma said, per ESPN.com. He said she "gives them confidence."
The 5-11 Bueckers was averaging 36.3 minutes played when she went down at the end of the Huskies' Dec. 5 victory over Notre Dame with a leg fracture and meniscus tear. She was averaging 21.2 points, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals in six games. UConn started out 5-1, with the loss coming to No. 1 South Carolina in the Bahamas.
The Huskies (21-5, 15-1 Big East) lost to Georgia Tech, No. 4 Louisville, Oregon and Villanova — but also won the Big East regular-season championship — while Bueckers was out.
"Every other team is probably going to improve in the postseason," Auriemma said, per ESPN.com. "But we improved by who we added, and I don't know that anybody else is adding somebody like that."
