University of Connecticut Athletics
Bueckers Named Lieberman Award Finalist
3/1/2021 1:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UConn women's basketball freshman Paige Bueckers was named one of five finalists for the 2021 Nancy Lieberman Award, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Monday.
Bueckers leads UConn with 20.1 points and 6.5 assists per game. She ranks fourth nationally with a 49.5 three-point field goal percentage. Bueckers set the UConn single-game record with 14 assists against Butler and through just 20 games, has set the UConn freshman record with 130 assists.
A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 student-athletes in November, which was narrowed to 10 candidates in February and now just five finalists. This month, the finalists will be presented Ms. Lieberman and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2021 Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame's selection committee. Naismith Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, March 5 on hoophallawards.com.
The winner of the 2021 Lieberman Award will be presented on ESPN, along with the other four members of the Women's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, the Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award, the Katrina McClain Power Forward Award and the Lisa Leslie Center Award, in addition to the Men's Starting Five. Additional information about the award presentation, including date and time, will be released in the coming weeks.
Previous winners of the Lieberman Award from UConn include Sue Bird (2000-02), Diana Taurasi (2003-04), Renee Montgomery (2009) and Moriah Jefferson (2015-16).
The other finalists are Aari McDonald (Arizona), Did Richards (Baylor), Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and Tiana Mangakahia (Syracuse).
