77 Facts About Paige Bueckers

1.

Paige Madison Bueckers is an American college basketball player for the UConn Huskies of the Big East Conference.

2.

Paige Bueckers led UConn to the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA tournament and set program records for assists by a freshman and single-game assists.

3.

Paige Bueckers missed most of her sophomore season with a left knee injury but led her team to the national championship game.

4.

Paige Bueckers was ruled out for her junior season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

5.

Paige Bueckers has won three gold medals with the United States at the youth international level, including at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, where she was named Most Valuable Player.

6.

Paige Bueckers was a Youth Olympic gold medalist in 3x3 basketball and has played for the senior national 3x3 team.

7.

Paige Bueckers was recognized as USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 2019.

8.

Paige Bueckers was born on October 20,2001, in Edina, Minnesota, and grew up in neighboring St Louis Park.

9.

Paige Bueckers became friends with future National Basketball Association player Jalen Suggs while in elementary school.

10.

Paige Bueckers was coached by her father in basketball until seventh grade.

11.

Paige Bueckers drew inspiration from NBA players LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and Women's National Basketball Association players Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.

12.

Paige Bueckers grew up supporting the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA.

13.

In seventh grade, Paige Bueckers played for the tenth-grade and junior varsity basketball teams at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka.

14.

Paige Bueckers grew four inches in the year before her eighth-grade season.

15.

Paige Bueckers joined Hopkins' varsity team in eighth grade under head coach Brian Cosgriff, averaging 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

16.

Paige Bueckers led her team in three-point shooting and ranked second in assists.

17.

In January 2018, as a sophomore, Paige Bueckers was sidelined with an ankle injury that had been hurting her for the first two months of the season.

18.

Paige Bueckers finished the season averaging 22.3 points, 6.8 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game.

19.

Paige Bueckers was named Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year, becoming the first sophomore to win the award since its creation 34 years earlier.

20.

Paige Bueckers was recognized as Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year for athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character.

21.

Paige Bueckers averaged 24.4 points, 5.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 4.6 steals per game, repeating as Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year and Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year.

22.

Paige Bueckers was one of three finalists for the Gatorade National Player of the Year award.

23.

That year, Paige Bueckers moved to the Minnesota Metro Stars AAU program, following her former North Tartan coach Tara Starks.

24.

On January 29,2020, during her senior season, Paige Bueckers became the first female high school player to be featured on the cover of basketball magazine Slam.

25.

Paige Bueckers sometimes wore a walking boot as a preventative measure, was limited in practice and missed the first game of the state tournament.

26.

Paige Bueckers was selected to play at the McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic, two prestigious high school all-star games, but both were canceled due to the pandemic.

27.

Paige Bueckers averaged 21.4 points, 9.4 assists, 5.4 steals and five rebounds per game, leading Hopkins to another undefeated season and 62 consecutive wins.

28.

Paige Bueckers was again honored as Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year, becoming the award's first three-time winner.

29.

Paige Bueckers was named Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year, Gatorade National Player of the Year, Naismith Prep Player of the Year, Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year, and Minnesota Miss Basketball.

30.

Paige Bueckers finished as Hopkins' all-time leader in points, assists and steals.

31.

Paige Bueckers has been regarded as one of the best players in Minnesota girls' high school basketball history.

32.

Paige Bueckers is having that same impact on a new generation of girls.

33.

Paige Bueckers was a five-star recruit and ranked the number one player in the 2020 class by ESPN.

34.

Paige Bueckers became the 11th number-one recruit to sign and attend UConn since 1998.

35.

Paige Bueckers was drawn to UConn because she felt that head coach Geno Auriemma would maximize her talents, and because of the university's reputation and enthusiasm for women's basketball.

36.

Paige Bueckers believed that she could immediately have a key role at UConn, with the expected graduation of point guard Crystal Dangerfield, and was attracted by its team-oriented play style.

37.

Paige Bueckers was unanimously selected as the Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year by the league's coaches.

38.

Late in the game, Paige Bueckers sprained her ankle, causing her to miss the next contest against Georgetown.

39.

Paige Bueckers became the first player in program history to have three straight 30-point games.

40.

Paige Bueckers was an unanimous first-team All-Big East and Big East All-Freshman Team selection.

41.

Paige Bueckers was named most outstanding player of the tournament.

42.

Paige Bueckers was recognized as MOP of the River Walk Regional.

43.

Paige Bueckers was a unanimous first-team All-American: she earned first-team All-American honors from the AP and the USBWA, and made the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Coaches' All-America Team.

44.

Paige Bueckers was the first freshman to win the Nancy Lieberman Award as the top point guard in the nation.

45.

Paige Bueckers recorded 168 assists, the most by a freshman in program history, despite a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

46.

Paige Bueckers was named to the university's dean's list her freshman year, which required a GPA of at least 3.72, and was involved in social justice causes.

47.

Paige Bueckers entered her sophomore season as a unanimous selection for both Big East Preseason Player of the Year and the AP preseason All-America team.

48.

Paige Bueckers matched the program record for points in a season opener set by Kerry Bascom in 1989.

49.

Paige Bueckers was expected to be sidelined for eight more weeks.

50.

Paige Bueckers was cleared to return against St John's on February 25,2022.

51.

Paige Bueckers continued to receive limited playing time until the NCAA tournament, and UConn won the Big East tournament despite her scoring only two points in the championship game against Villanova.

52.

Paige Bueckers represented the United States at the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

53.

Paige Bueckers played at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Women's World Cup in Minsk, Belarus.

54.

Paige Bueckers led the United States to a gold medal after recording eight points and ten assists versus France in the final.

55.

At the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand in July, Paige Bueckers averaged 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and a tournament-high 5.4 assists per game.

56.

Paige Bueckers was named Most Valuable Player and made the All-Tournament Team.

57.

In October 2018, Paige Bueckers won a gold medal for the United States in 3x3 basketball at the Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, helping her team win all seven of its games.

58.

Paige Bueckers was the youngest member of the senior national team at the 2019 World Beach Games in Doha, Qatar, on a roster featuring WNBA players Napheesa Collier and Jackie Young.

59.

Paige Bueckers averaged 6.5 points per game, second-highest on the team, as the United States lost to Brazil in the quarterfinals and finished in fifth place.

60.

Since high school, Paige Bueckers has received considerable attention as one of the top players of her generation.

61.

Paige Bueckers has a slim build, which encourages opposing teams to force her to play through contact, and displays quickness and agility.

62.

An adept passer and ball handler, Paige Bueckers has described herself as a "pass-first" player.

63.

Paige Bueckers's pull-up jump shot has been described as her signature move, and she is a skilled mid-range shooter.

64.

Paige Bueckers's playing style has frequently drawn comparisons to Taurasi.

65.

Paige Bueckers' father, Bob Paige Bueckers, is a software engineer and played high school basketball as a point guard.

66.

Paige Bueckers remained with her father while her mother remarried and moved to Billings, Montana.

67.

Paige Bueckers's father began a new relationship and later had a son, Drew.

68.

Paige Bueckers has another younger brother, Ryan, and a younger sister, Lauren.

69.

Paige Bueckers is a Christian and attributes her confidence and success on the basketball court to God.

70.

Paige Bueckers has hosted a charity basketball clinic called "Buckets with Bueckers" for young athletes in Minnesota and Montana.

71.

Paige Bueckers has voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement, in part because her brother, Drew, whom she has described as her best friend, is biracial.

72.

Paige Bueckers is represented by agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas of Wasserman.

73.

Paige Bueckers signed with Wasserman as a name, image and likeness client in August 2021, about one month after the NCAA allowed student-athletes to be compensated for the use of their NIL.

74.

In 2022, Paige Bueckers was named to the Fortune 40 Under 40 list, which honors influential young people in business, and The Athletic's College Sports 40 Under 40 list, which recognizes the most influential young people in the college sports industry.

75.

Paige Bueckers was the inaugural winner of the Best NIL Athlete of the Year award by Sports Business Journal.

76.

In November 2021, Paige Bueckers signed her first two major endorsement deals with StockX and Gatorade, becoming the first college athlete to sign with Gatorade.

77.

On February 7,2022, she announced a partnership with Cash App, through which she launched the Paige Bueckers Foundation, aimed at promoting social justice and creating opportunities for families and children.