Storrs — There will be times when UConn is engaged in a five-minute shooting drill at practice and no one will make a shot except Paige Bueckers.

“You shake your head,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma was saying late Monday night about the team’s resident rock star. “When these guys start missing and doubting themselves, what if she wasn’t there to break the string? Just little things like that to make them feel better.

“The fact she passed it to KK (Arnold with the game on the line), KK’s thinking, ‘Man, the best player just passed it to me at crunch time.’ That’s just a huge confidence-builder.”

Bueckers finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals and a blocked shot as the third-seeded UConn women’s basketball team held on for a 72-64 victory over No. 6 Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA tournament at sold-out Gampel Pavilion.

Ashlynn Shade added 19 points, Arnold 10, including a clutch 3-point field goal with 29 seconds remaining on the assist from Bueckers, and Aaliyah Edwards had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds for UConn.

The Huskies (31-5) will make their unprecedented 30th straight appearance in the Sweet 16 Saturday in Portland, Oregon, meeting No. 7 Duke after Duke upset No. 2 Ohio State 75-63 in a second-round game Saturday.

It was the final appearance at Gampel for seniors Edwards and Nika Muhl, with Muhl breaking former All-American Moriah Jefferson’s all-time assist record.

Muhl came in one assist shy of Jefferson’s career total of 659, tying it on a handoff to Bueckers and breaking it on a 3-pointer by Shade with 1 minute, 56 seconds left in the first quarter.

Auriemma made two points in his opening statement.

He said at the beginning of the tournament that he wasn’t thrilled with the opponents UConn was paired with for the first two rounds, two difficult matchups against resilient teams from Jackson State and Syracuse.

And two, Bueckers, who scored 25-plus points in five straight games, the first person to achieve that in UConn history, is the best player in the country.

“We have the best player in America,” Auriemma said. “Just saying that because the numbers say that she is and the whole stat sheet says that she is and everybody that watched knows it. And we’re fortunate. I have so much respect for her and what she’s doing. I can’t say enough things about her. Really, I can’t.”

UConn led 39-28 at halftime thanks to Bueckers, who elevated for back-to-back jump shots off the dribble, the last with 4 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Bueckers had 20 points at the half on 10-for-16 shooting, with the Huskies scoring the final five points of the quarter to expand the lead from six at 34-28 on a jump shot by Syracuse’s Saniaa Wilson to 11.

Syracuse started the third quarter by outscoring the Huskies 10-2, carving the deficit to 41-38 on a 3-pointer by Sophie Burrows and prompting a UConn timeout.

The Orange still trailed by just four after a three-point play by Dyaisha Fair with 1:50 to play in the third made it 48-44, but UConn’s Arnold picked up a loose ball and scored and Shade ignited the Gampel crowd with a 3-pointer with one second remaining to end the quarter with the Huskies leading 53-44.

The fourth quarter proved to be a tough one for UConn to navigate: at one point the Huskies were called for four consecutive fouls, one on Edwards, one on Arnold and two on Muhl.

Following that sequence, Fair, the Syracuse star guard, hit two of three free throws to pull within 63-55 and Muhl was then whistled for another foul, her fifth, sending her to the bench for the final 5:17 against the Orange.

UConn’s lead was precarious at 67-64 when Arnold connected for a 3-pointer from the left corner, assisted by Bueckers, for a more comfortable six-point cushion with 29 seconds left.

Fair finished with 20 points for Syracuse (25-8), ending her collegiate career with 3,403 points, third all-time in Division I women’s basketball history.

v.fulkerson@theday.com