Paige Bueckers Salutes UConn Fans in Home Finale: 'I've Had the Time of My Life'

Superstar guard Paige Bueckers and UConn women's basketball fans showed mutual appreciation during and after Bueckers' final home game as a collegiate player Monday night.

Late in UConn's 91-57 win over South Dakota State in the second round of the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament, Bueckers checked out of the game and received a huge ovation from the UConn faithful at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut:

Bueckers told the crowd after the game that it was an "amazing atmosphere," adding, "I've had the time of my life here. It's been the five years I've dreamt of as a kid."

Fittingly, Bueckers matched her career high Monday with 34 points on 14-of-21 shooting to go along with four assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Bueckers, a senior, is among the leading candidates to win the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year Award thanks to her averages of 19.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game for a Huskies team that has gone 33-3 this season.

As a freshman back in 2021, Bueckers won the award, but injuries limited her to 17 games the following season, and a torn ACL cost her the entire 2022-23 campaign.

Since then, Bueckers has battled back to re-establish herself as one of the top players in women's college basketball, and she is the biggest reason why UConn has made it to a 31st consecutive Sweet 16.

All signs point toward Bueckers being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft next month, but she remains focused on bringing the UConn women's basketball team its first national title since 2016.

The next step on that journey comes Saturday when the second-seeded Huskies face the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners in the Sweet 16 at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington.