MILWAUKEE (AP) — UConn coach Geno Auriemma initially feared the worst possible scenario when Paige Bueckers clutched her surgically repaired left knee early in Tuesday's game.
Bueckers knew there wasn't much reason to worry.
After leaving early in the first quarter to get her knee checked, Bueckers scored 28 points and beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-point shot from about 40 feet away as No. 8 UConn topped Marquette 85-59 for its 13th consecutive victory.
Bueckers' big night was hard to imagine just over three minutes into the game when the 2021 AP national player of the year stayed on the floor in pain after taking a charge.
“Your mind goes to bad places when you see stuff like that happen,” Auriemma acknowledged.
Bueckers missed 19 games in 2021-22 and sat out all of last season due to two separate injuries to that knee. Bueckers knew right away she wasn't hurt seriously this time.
“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.”
Bueckers missed less than 2 1/2 minutes of game action before returning. She tried to check herself back in earlier than that before Auriemma ordered her back to the bench.
She proceeded to shoot 11 of 18 overall and 4 of 5 from 3-point range. She closed the first half by taking a step or two beyond halfcourt and swishing a buzzer beater that gave UConn a 49-38 lead at the break.
Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ont. had 10 points and 12 rebounds for UConn (17-3, 9-0 Big East). Ashlynn Shade had 15 points, while Nika Muhl and KK Arnold added 13 each.
Liza Karlen scored 21, Mackenzie Hare 19 and Jordan King 10 for Marquette (15-4, 4-4).
UConn was visiting Marquette for the first time since falling 59-52 to the Golden Eagles last season, which gave the Huskies their first two-game losing streak since 1993. The game occurred three nights after the Huskies had lost to South Carolina.
The Huskies had gained revenge Dec. 31 by thrashing Marquette 95-64 at Hartford to hand the Golden Eagles their first loss of the season. Since winning their first 12 games, the Golden Eagles have gone 3-4.
“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.”
PURDUE 99, MICHIGAN 67 (MEN)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Purdue's 7-foot-4 All-American Zach Edey didn’t score for more than 12 minutes. No matter, No. 2 Purdue still got off to a fast start.
“It’s so much bigger than me,” Edey, a Toronto native, said. “We're not the Purdue Zach Edeys, we're the Purdue Boilermakers. We have so many guys that can really score and everyone made plays.”
Lance Jones scored a season-high 24 points and Edey added 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Purdue to a 99-67 rout of Michigan on Tuesday night.
“I didn't force anything,” Jones said. “I felt good. I think the big thing for me is playing with confidence."
Jones, a fifth-year transfer from Southern Illinois, sank 5-of-9 3-point shots for the Boilermakers (18-2, 7-2 Big Ten), who won their fourth straight game.
Purdue’s Braden Smith contributed 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Jaelin Llewellyn led Michigan (7-12, 2-6) with 16 points. Terrance Williams II and George Washington III each scored 10 points. The Wolverines connected on just 34% of its shots.
TCU 74, OKLAHOMA STATE 69 (MEN)
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Toronto's Emanuel Miller scored 21 points and added 11 rebounds and Micah Peavy scored 16 points, and TCU rallied from a first-half deficit to beat Oklahoma State 74-69 on Tuesday night.
TCU (14-5, 3-3 Big 12) snapped a two-game losing streak while the Cowboys (8-11, 0-6) remained winless in conference.
Avery Anderson III added 15 points, and he and Peavy combined to shoot 13 for 20. Despite shooting 3 for 15 from 3-point range, TCU finished 30-for-57 shooting overall.
John Michael-Wright scored 16 points, Javon Small 15 and reserves Eric Dailey Jr. and Jarius Hicklen 13 and 12 respectively for Oklahoma State.
Hicklen made two foul shots for the Cowboys to reduce their deficit to 72-69 with 1:02 left but failed to score again, missing a pair of 3-pointers in the last 32 seconds.
Bryce Thompson's 3-pointer with 6:01 left before halftime put the Cowboys ahead 33-16. Dailey broke a 6-all tie 9 1/2 minutes earlier. However, TCU proceeded to outscore Oklahoma State 17-4 in the last 5 1/2 minutes to reduce their deficit to 37-33 at halftime.
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