Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers Would Welcome WNBA Game at UConn: “I Would Love to Play a Game at Gampel”
Arike Ogunbowale returns to Notre Dame as the Wings face the Aces. Paige Bueckers debuts, while Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd also headline the preseason showcase.
Paige Bueckers will make her WNBA preseason debut Friday night when the Dallas Wings face the Las Vegas Aces at Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion, but the event will carry special meaning for several players on the floor.
The matchup marks a homecoming for Wings star Arike Ogunbowale and Aces standouts Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd, three of the most decorated players in Notre Dame women’s basketball history.
Ogunbowale, the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,626 points, delivered two of the most iconic shots in NCAA tournament history to secure Notre Dame’s 2018 national championship. Over four seasons with the Irish, she helped lead the team to three ACC titles, four consecutive Elite Eight appearances, two Final Fours, and a combined 136 wins. Ogunbowale was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2018 Final Four and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in program history. Since entering the WNBA as the fifth overall pick in 2019, she has become a four-time All-Star, two-time All-Star Game MVP, and two-time All-WNBA selection, averaging 20.6 points per game across her professional career.
“Just being back at home — I mean, that’s the place I grew up,” Ogunbowale told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “I played there for four years. I get to see my coaches, get to see some old fans, get to see my family since I live like three hours away, so I'm excited about that.”
Loyd, a 2015 ESPNw National Player of the Year, led Notre Dame to three straight Final Four appearances before beginning her WNBA career with two championships and six All-Star selections. Young, the 2016 Indiana Miss Basketball, was a key figure in Notre Dame’s 2018 national title run and has become a two-time WNBA champion and three-time All-Star with Las Vegas.
The Wings-Aces matchup is part of a landmark preseason slate for the WNBA, which is broadcasting all 15 exhibition games nationally or on League Pass. Friday’s contest will air on ION as part of a doubleheader featuring the Chicago Sky and the Brazilian national team at LSU, where Angel Reese will return to Baton Rouge.
Elsewhere, Caitlin Clark will lead the Indiana Fever into Carver-Hawkeye Arena for an exhibition against the Brazilian national team, continuing the WNBA’s effort to connect its rising professional stars with the fan bases that propelled them to national stardom. Previous instances include A’Ja Wilson playing at South Carolina against Puerto Rico in a homecoming game.
In the future, Buckers would like to play a WNBA game at Gampel Pavilion, where she played during her UConn career.
“Yeah, I think it’s really cool and a great idea,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “I think it should be incorporated even more. Just to start here, it’s a great start. I would love to play a game at Gampel and go back to UConn. I think it’s an amazing idea. Just seeing the support of women’s basketball grow — at the college level and at the WNBA level — it’ll be a great turnout wherever we go.”
Bueckers, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, enters the league after leading UConn to its 12th NCAA championship just eight days earlier. She finished her college career with the highest scoring average in program history (19.8 points per game) and ranked third all-time in total points (2,439). A three-time AP First Team All-American and three-time Big East Player of the Year, Bueckers helped guide the Huskies to four Final Fours, two national championship games, and one national title.
Bueckers concluded her time at UConn shooting over 50 percent from the field, over 40 percent from three-point range, and over 85 percent from the free-throw line, joining the elite 50/40/85 club. Bueckers was also honored as the 2025 Wade Trophy winner, a two-time Nancy Lieberman Award recipient, and a three-time NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player.
For the Wings, Bueckers believes that Friday’s game against the Aces provides a valuable opportunity for team building by going back to Ogunbowale’s old stomping grounds in South Bend.
“It just provides another opportunity to be connected,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Road trips in themselves are very fun — bonding on the plane, going out to eat, just being together in that road environment. So yeah, it provides another opportunity.”
For Bueckers, Friday will mark the start of her WNBA journey — and perhaps, a glimpse at a future return to her college roots.