Paige Bueckers reveals what she learned from past Final Four trips

On Monday, Paige Bueckers punched the ticket for her fourth trip to the Final Four. After UConn‘s 78-64 win over 1-seed USC, Bueckers revealed what she’s learned from her previous trips to the Final Four.

“Just taking it one possession at a time, the possession you’re in is the most important possession of the season, not getting too caught up in what if that, what if this, just staying present, staying in the moment,” Bueckers said. “Not worrying about the pressures or the stakes because everybody’s dealing with it.

“Everybody’s there to win a national title, and nobody is there on accident. Everybody there is elite and great and there for a reason. So just sticking to being in the moment, staying present and capitalizing off of everything.”

Bueckers missed UConn’s 2022-23 season with a torn ACL. In turn, it’s the only season during Bueckers’ career that UConn didn’t make the Final Four.

Despite Bueckers’ ability to boost her team to the Final Four, she hasn’t been able to lead the Huskies to a national title. Nonetheless, she’s playing better than ever this season as she looks to finally get over that hump.

In UConn’s win over USC, Bueckers erupted for 31 points, three rebounds, six assists and four steals while shooting 9-18 from the field and 4-8 from beyond the arc. Buckers was even more spectacular in the Huskies’ triumph over Oklahoma in the Sweet Sixteen.

In the win, Bueckers tallied a career-high 40 points on 6-8 shooting from 3-point range. With 1-seed UCLA awaiting them in the Final Four, the Huskies will need Bueckers to stay hot. Paige Bueckers doesn’t appear to be worried about her team.

“I would say this team is a little bit younger just in terms of our most experienced guys are at times sophomores on the court,” Buecker said. “So we’re pretty young in that way. But we got a whole lot of heart and a whole lot of toughness about us and we play together as a team.

“We’re super well-connected. I feel like every team that I’ve played on we’ve been super well-connected… We’ve been through so much adversity as individuals, as a team, and how much it’s brought us together, how much it’s made us stronger.”

UConn and UCLA will square off at 9 p.m. ET on Friday with a trip to the National Championship on the line. The game will air live on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+.