Paige Bueckers Praises God as She Leads UConn to Final Four: ‘Living Testimony’

Published: April 4, 2024

Paige Bueckers Praises God as She Leads UConn to Final Four: ‘Living Testimony’

By Movieguide® Contributor

UConn’s Paige Bueckers is giving God the glory as she leads her team to the Final Four.

Due to an ACL tear, Bueckers watched her team compete in last year’s March Madness NCAA tournament. This year, though, she’s averaging 27 points per game, the highest in her career.

UConn faced a tough USC Trojan team with women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins leading the way. However, Bueckers scored 28 points and secured 10 rebounds and six assists with three key steals to lead her team in an 80-73 win over the Trojans.

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“Just so much gratitude. I’m a living testimony. I give all glory to God. He works in mysterious ways,” she told ESPN after the game.

“Last year, I was praying to be back at this stage,” Bueckers continued. “He sent me trials and tribulations, but it was to build my character. It was to test my faith to see if I was only a believer in the good times. I just kept on believing. I did all I could so God could do all I can’t.”

Bueckers was vocal about her faith even as she recovered from her ACL tear. Movieguide® reported:

“It’s so, so crazy because you work so hard to get back healthy, you feel stronger than ever, and you are playing your best basketball, and with one sudden movement, it all shifts,” Bueckers wrote on her Instagram. “It’s hard trying to make sense of it all now, but I can’t help but think that God is using me as a testimony as to how much you can overcome with Him by your side.”

After 720 days since her last March Madness appearance, Bueckers was ready to compete.

Before the tournament, Bueckers shared James 1:2-4, which reads, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

She focused on the words “PURE JOY.”