Paige Bueckers will make another triumphant return to Minnesota when the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team plays the Golden Gophers next year.
The showdown is set for Nov. 19, 2023 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
Connecticut is playing this season without Bueckers, who tore her ACL during a summer pickup basketball game. Barring a setback, Bueckers will be good to go when the non-conference game in her home state takes place.
Bueckers was the 2020-21 National Freshman of the Year and the AP Player of the Year, when she led UConn to the Final Four. Last season, after missing significant time with a knee injury, she returned to lead UConn back to the Final Four in Minneapolis, where the Huskies lost in the national title game to South Carolina.
Before joining Connecticut as the No. 1 recruit in the country Bueckers was a star at Hopkins High School in the Twin Cities metro area.
The Gophers, meanwhile, are off to a 2-0 start with wins over Western Michigan and Lehigh. The star of those games was Mara Braun, the former Wayzata High School star who averaged 27.5 points in the two victories.
