HARTFORD, Conn. — Paige Bueckers and her UConn team are both going back to where it all began — for both of them.
After UConn beat NC State, 91-87, in double overtime Monday night in the regional final to advance to its 14th straight Final Four, the Huskies were headed Tuesday to Minneapolis, where the program won its first national championship in 1995.
Bueckers, who had 27 points and was named the Bridgeport Regional’s Most Outstanding Player Monday night, will head back to her home state, where she honed her basketball skills at Hopkins High in Minnetonka.
The Final Four will take place at the Target Center, with UConn facing Stanford in the national semifinal game Friday at 9:30 p.m. South Carolina meets Louisville in the early game.
“It was obviously extra motivation just to go back home and have the Final Four there and be a part of that experience,” Bueckers said Monday night. “But honestly, wherever the location, what gym, what court, I’m just excited to be out there with my sisters and play another game.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma waxed a little nostalgic on a conference call Tuesday.
“The Target Center will always have a special place in our hearts in Connecticut,” he said.
Auriemma was still processing Monday night’s game with all its ups and downs. In the second quarter, reserve center Dorka Juhasz, playing in her first NCAA Tournament, fell hard on her left wrist and fractured it. She only played three minutes but she had already hit a shot and had two rebounds before leaving the game.
With UConn’s post players in foul trouble, it appeared that Juhasz’s absence would be a problem for the Huskies but they hung on for the win, managing to equal NC State in rebounding (39 each) and only allowing NC State to score four more points in the paint (44-40).
Juhasz did not board the bus from Storrs to the airport Tuesday with her teammates, but it was not clear what her status was.
Her absence could pose a problem against Stanford, which has 6-foot-4 sophomore center Cameron Brink, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Brink, who can be prone to foul trouble, had six blocks to go with 10 points in the Cardinal’s win over Texas in the regional final Sunday.
“Dorka was so excited she couldn’t see straight in her first couple of games,” Auriemma said. “She finally got her legs under her [Monday] and played a phenomenal 3 1/2 minutes and made a huge impact. As fate would have it, she fractured her wrist.
“It could only happen to us three days before we play the longest, most athletic front line, tallest group of players that exist in the tournament, Stanford’s amazing post players. What adjustments can we make? All we can do is play with what we have. We can tinker with some lineup situations as the game goes on.”
One of the highs Monday for UConn was the emergence of Bueckers, looking like her old self in the late stages of the game.
Bueckers, who missed 19 games due to a left knee injury and subsequent surgery, had 23 points in the second half Monday, 15 in the overtime. She hit a jump shot with 2:09 left in regulation to give UConn a 61-59 lead before NC State’s Elissa Cunane tied it up with 57 seconds left to send the game into the first overtime. Bueckers hit two jump shots and four free throws in the first OT then had two free throws with 6.2 seconds left to give the Huskies a 77-74 lead. Jakia Brown-Turner’s 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left tied the score again and sent the game into a second OT.
Bueckers hit a 3 to open the second overtime before senior Christyn Williams put the game away with a free throw to give the Huskies an 87-84 lead with 54 seconds left. Williams followed that with a drive to the hoop and another final basket with 5.2 seconds left for the final score.
Bueckers played 44 minutes.
“If you asked me a couple weeks ago if Paige would be able to play 40 minutes, I would have said no,” Auriemma said. “She got better and better as the game went on.”
Said Williams Monday night: “I was literally thinking, ‘We have Paige Bueckers and they don’t.’ I mean, once she makes one, the rim is this big. She’s just going to keep making them. So keep giving her the ball.”
