Paige Bueckers reacts to JuJu Watkins ACL injury, recovery: 'We know how much it sucks'

In 2022, Paige Bueckers saw her junior season cut well short. She tore her ACL in the preseason and took a redshirt before helping lead UConn to a Final Four one year later.

Earlier this week, another big name in college women’s basketball suffered the same injury. USC star JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL in the Trojans’ victory over Mississippi State, and Bueckers spoke Friday about her upcoming recovery.

Bueckers noted she knows what Watkins is going through after such a devastating injury. But she also said the USC superstar will come back strong because she has the right mindset while attacking her recovery process.

“Your heart breaks for her,” Bueckers said. “Just the devastation that, especially during right now, during the tournament, of not being able to be out there with your team during the most important part of the year. So I know especially, we empathize for her. We’ve been there, and we know how much it sucks. But you don’t get to be as good as JuJu if you don’t have a great motor, a great work ethic, and she’s going to attack this process just as she’s attacked basketball, and just as she’s great at basketball, she’s going to be great at this recovery process.”

Bueckers recalled her recovery process, particularly shortly after her devastating injury. The hardest part came immediately after she got hurt, especially because of the amount of questions she had. From there, she trusted her faith and had the mentality of knowing she’d be back on the court again someday.

“The first week was devastation – a sense of just hurt, disappointment, a ‘why me’ sort of mentality, why now,” Bueckers said. “A lot of questions that have you that are going to go unanswered.

“But then your motivation, your strength, your faith, peace kicks in of everything happens for a reason, and then surgery happens, and then you know that every single day that passes by is a day closer to you getting to play basketball again. … Just disappointed for her but know she will be back better than ever and this will just be a little setback to the great story she will have.”

At the time of the injury, JuJu Watkins was in the midst of an impressive sophomore season while leading USC to a No. 1 seed. She was averaging 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 blocks per game.