Paige Bueckers wins Wooden Award, completes sweep of national awards

SAN ANTONIO — Paige Bueckers swept all the national player of the year awards for which she was eligible, as she was announced the first freshman to win the Wooden Award for the country's most outstanding player Monday evening.

Bueckers previously won the USBWA's Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, the Naismith Trophy and the AP national player of the year. She was also the first freshman to take home those honors.

Freshmen are not eligible for the Wade Trophy, which was awarded to Baylor junior NaLyssa Smith.

Three other Huskies have won the Wooden Award a total of five times: Maya Moore (2009, 2011), Tina Charles (2010) and Breanna Stewart (2015, 2016).

Bueckers completed her freshman season averaging 20.0 points per game — the best freshman scoring average in program history — on 52.4 percent shooting and 46.4 percent on 3s. She made her presence felt all over the court with 5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.

The 5-foot-11 guard from Hopkins averaged 21.6 points in the Huskies' run to the Final Four, the program's 13th straight. UConn fell to the No. 3 seed Wildcats 69-59 in the national semifinals Friday, ending the season 28-2.

Bueckers had also previously been named Big East player and freshman of the year; Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player; co-freshman of the year by the WBCA and USBWA; Associated Press, Wooden, WBCA and USBWA First-Team All-American; Nancy Lieberman Award recipient; NCAA Tournament River Walk Region Most Outstanding Player; Final Four All-Tournament team member.