Fans slammed UConn's Geno Auriemma for leaving Paige Bueckers in during the final minutes of a blowout, leading to her scary injury
- Paige Bueckers suffered a scary injury in the final minute of UConn's blowout win over Notre Dame.
- Fans blasted Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma for leaving his star on the court so late in the game.
UConn superstar Paige Bueckers suffered a scary non-contact injury on Sunday, and fans are pointing fingers at Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma.
The reigning consensus national player of the year crumpled to the ground with just 38.5 seconds remaining in the Huskies' matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. With UConn holding onto a considerable 18-point lead heading into the final minute of the game, fans and analysts alike questioned why Auriemma would keep his star point guard in the game rather than giving her some much-needed rest on the bench.
The 11-time national champion's response left much to be desired.
"She never wants to come out," Auriemma told reporters during Sunday's post-game press conference. "She's a pain in the ass to have on the bench because all she does is complain about why she's not playing. And we've made a concerted effort in the last three or four games to get her some rest during the game."
Eventually, Auriemma conceded, "I don't have an answer for why she was in the game" but insisted that a non-contact injury like the one Bueckers sustained "could happen at any time" and that he doesn't "like the way our team looks when she's not on the floor."
Here's a look at the injury for those who haven't seen it. While it isn't gruesome, the replay is not advised for the faint of heart:
Bueckers was slow to get up after hopping towards UConn's bench. Two of her teammates eventually carried her off the floor, and she needed to lean on the shoulders of two staff members to make her way back to the locker room.
While fans feared it could be an ankle or Achilles injury, Auriemma said after the game that Bueckers' knee was the problem. Doctors took a quick look at her leg but won't offer anything conclusive until after she gets an MRI.
"On the replay, it looked like it probably hyperextended, best-case scenario," Auriemma added. "It's her knee, yeah. But nothing twisted ... So hopefully we'll get some good news."
With Bueckers almost certainly unavailable for the foreseeable future and freshman star Azzi Fudd already out with a foot injury, Auriemma will likely have no choice but to find a way to like the way his team looks without his star guards on the floor.
And he'll have to do so quickly.
The Huskies are set to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on the road Thursday. Just two days later, they'll travel North to Newark, New Jersey, for a matchup against the UCLA Bruins. While neither opponent currently finds itself ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll, both have been considered among the top teams in the country this season.
"We celebrated the win, but we were definitely more concerned about Paige and just how she was feeling and her status right now," UConn senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa said after the game, per The Hartford Courant's Alexa Philippou. "We're praying for the best, praying for good news and just kind of waiting for the outcome."