UConn legends Breanna Stewart, Paige Bueckers savor NYC stage in Unrivaled semifinals
NEW YORK — Less than a month ago, the Unrivaled playoffs were slated to be played entirely in the same 1,000-seat arena that serves as the 3-on-3 league’s home base in Miami.
On Monday night, a sold-out crowd of 18,261 fans filled Barclays Center in Brooklyn to witness the league’s semifinals, relocated on barely three weeks notice to meet the city’s ever-growing appetite for women’s sports.
There was a joyful electricity inside the arena, the effervescent buzz of witnessing high-stakes hoops with none of the anxious tension that normally accompanies a win-or-go-home playoff game. The crowd was eclectic, some in vintage WNBA gear or old college jerseys from their favorite players, others sporting the vibrant colorways of clubs competing in Monday night’s playoff games. Fans sported custom-made accessories, from a sequined neon green cowboy hat that perfectly matched a black-and-green Phantom jersey to a basketball-shaped purse hand-painted with the logos of each Unrivaled team.
The support transcended players, teams, even eras of the sport. Every fan in the arena was screaming the same message: This place belongs to women’s basketball. This place belongs to us.
“It’s so exciting to see, so reassuring, so validating, and we’re always surprised, but we’re not surprised,” Unrivaled commissioner Mickey Lawler said. “It’s very obvious to us that the voice economy is very strong in women’s basketball, and the fans really carry us as much as player players. It’s a flawless partnership, so we’re eternally grateful.”
Maybe that’s what former UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers was already feeling pregame when she knocked down a half-court shot to end Breeze’s shootaround and screamed at the top of her lungs, “I feel Connecticut in my bones!”
Barclays Center, more than 140 miles south of Gampel Pavilion, is as close to the Basketball Capital of the World as Bueckers has played since facing the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA last summer, and the Huskies great was feeding off mere proximity to home. Eight members of the current UConn roster were in attendance, including five of Bueckers’ former teammates: KK Arnold, Caroline Ducharme, Azzi Fudd, Ayanna Patterson and Allie Ziebell. Fudd and Arnold sat courtside and drew massive cheers from the Brooklyn crowd when they were shown on the jumbotron.
UConn x Unrivaled
pic.twitter.com/MokrbUDuch
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 3, 2026
But the energy radiating down from Storrs had nothing on the passion from thousands of New York Liberty fans packed into the building, and UConn legend Breanna Stewart got to send the rookie Bueckers a message in her Mist’s semifinal against Breeze: Barclays Center is the house that Stewart built, and she was not going to be denied on her own floor.
Stewart was spectacular in the second of two semifinals on Monday night, leading Mist to a 73-69 comeback victory over Bueckers’ Breeze after the team trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half. The Liberty star finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals, the kind of stat line fans in New York have grown accustomed to since Stewart signed with the team in 2023. Arike Ogunbowale got the glory of the game winner, side-stepping into a 3-pointer to send Mist to the Unrivaled Championship on Wednesday night in Miami, but it was Stewart who grabbed the clutch rebound after Ogunbowale missed her first attempt and kicked the ball back out to her shooting guard with all three Breeze defenders collapsing in the paint.
“This is my home. This is where I want to be, to be able to celebrate that with all the fans, with my Misties,” Stewart said with a grin postgame. “I feel like you could feel the momentum and feel the excitement, whether it was cheering for us or for the Breeze, but we knew down the stretch everybody was cheering for us.”
Bueckers did all she could for Breeze, logging her fifth double-double of Unrivaled with 17 points, 10 boards and five assists. The star guard, who hadn’t played competitive 3-on-3 basketball prior to this season since she was in high school, was named to the All-Unrivaled first-team on Friday after leading Breeze to the second round of the playoffs in its first year as an expansion club.
“Stewie is the ultimate winner and the ultimate competitor, so to play against her on this stage, it’s just going against greatness and it makes you better,” Bueckers said. “Seeing her work, seeing her constantly in the gym, constantly getting treatment or in the weight room or on the court, it’s just her love for the game and her dedication to it.”
Unrivaled, co-founded by Stewart and former UConn teammate Napheesa Collier, has seen remarkable success in its second season since launching in 2025. The last-minute trip to Brooklyn was the league’s second time going on the road this season after selling out more than 21,000 seats for a pair of games in Philadelphia on Jan. 30, and Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell said before Monday’s semifinals that the league had already surpassed $1 million in gate and ticket revenue at Barclays. Lawler said Unrivaled’s total revenue for 2026 is approximately $45 million, a 66% increase from its inaugural year.
The numbers matter, but getting to play in front of the Barclays crowd as part of Unrivaled was the most tangible proof for Stewart that the league is building something with real potential for longevity.
“One I knew it was happening, I was like, my team has to be here (in the semifinals). I want to be playing in this game,” Stewart said. “It just shows the passion that the fans have and the excitement … I’m really proud of, this is kind of Phee and I’s baby. This is our project, and to see where we’ve gone from year one to year two, and where we want to keep going is something that’s really special.”
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