When Paige Bueckers recalled how Kobe Bryant's Mamba mentality healed her torn ACL: "Mental block is the hardest part to get past"

Before disaster struck, UConn women's star Paige Bueckers was on a roll during her freshman season in 2021. She won the AP Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year awards for her incredible performance. She led UConn to a successful 30-6 campaign and the 2022 Big East tournament championship.

Bueckers was getting ready to continue this momentum in her sophomore year. However, she suffered an anterior tibial plateau fracture and a lateral meniscus tear, which led her to miss 19 games that season. She did return in August 2022, but she misjudged her injury and tore her ACL on the same leg. She missed out on the rest of the 2022-23 campaign and underwent surgery on Aug. 5, 2022.

Her rehabilitation journey was long and arduous. In a YouTube video shared by ESPN, the UConn star talked about the difficulties and mental barriers she faced as she did not want to remain on the sidelines for so long.

"I think mentally is the biggest thing like, a lot of time's when you're coming back from an injury the mental approach and the mental block is the hardest part to get past," she said.

"But for me, I worked so hard, I changed who I am as a person, as a player and I have extreme confidence in the path that God has for me in the way that I prepare my body prepare my mind.

"Completely changed by rountines and habits. Mentally my confidence is there. There'll be times in practice where I'm still a little second guessing going into crowded areas but overall the confidence that I feel in my body and the way I am right now is at an all time high."

In the video, Bueckers also talked about how following NBA legend Kobe Bryant's book 'Mamba Mentality' worked wonders for her rehabilitation.

"When this injury first happened, I thought a lot about Kobe," she said. "I read the Mamba Mentality book and how he just looked at his injuries as a way to prove people wrong and as another thing to accomplish.

"Kobe loved challenges, so anything that he could face that people had doubt of that he could overcome made him want to do it even more. So his mentality and his approach just how much he dedicated his life to the game."

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Paige Bueckers makes an impressive comeback for UConn in the 2023-24 season

After over a year out, Paige Bueckers returned to play for the UConn Huskies this season. She is putting up impressive performances despite the fact that she hasn't played for so long.

She is averaging around 20.1 points per game, along with 4.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists. She also boasts a 56.8 shooting percentage as the Huskies have compiled a 17-4 campaign so far.