UConn women's basketball player Paige Bueckers overcame an early injury scare to lead her team to an 85-59 victory over Marquette on Tuesday. The game saw Bueckers, the 2021 AP national player of the year, initially down in pain just three minutes into the game, clutching her surgically repaired left knee.

Despite the tense start, Bueckers quickly reassured everyone with a stellar game. After a brief two-and-a-half-minute exit to check her knee, she returned to score an impressive 28 points. Her highlight moment came with an impressive 3-point halftime buzzer beater from about 40 feet, ending the first half on a high note and giving UConn a 49-38 lead.

“Your mind goes to bad places when you see stuff like that happen,” UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma said about the incident, per the Associated Pres.

It is particularly noteworthy considering Paige Bueckers' history of knee issues, including missing 19 games in the 2021-22 season and the entirety of last season due to two separate injuries. However, she was confident this was just a minor setback.

“It sounds bad, but knee injuries are better when it's contact,” Bueckers said. “It's sort of a knee-to-knee thing, which really hurts in the moment, but when I went down, I knew I was going to be fine. It was just more of an in-the-moment pain. I couldn't wait to get some ice on it and some padding, extra padding.”

The game also saw contributions from other UConn players. Aaliyah Edwards added 10 points and 12 rebounds, while Ashlynn Shade added 15 and Nika Muhl and KK Arnold contributed 13 points each. Marquette, despite a strong start to the season, faced challenges, with Liza Karlen, Mackenzie Hare and Jordan King leading their scoring.

“We talked a lot in the locker room about how UConn's behind us now and we've got to go on a little bit of a tear and a run,” Marquette coach Megan Duffy said. “There's going to be bumps in the season, in Big East play especially. I just want a little bit more fight from our team. I want everybody to kind of turn it up a notch.”

UConn, now 17-3 overall and 9-0 in the Big East, will host No. 15 Notre Dame on Saturday. Marquette, facing a more challenging phase with a 15-4 record, prepares to host Butler on the same day.