‘We’re a whole different team’
How Fudd’s return impacts Huskies entering the NCAA Tournament
Head coach Geno Auriemma gathered the Uconn women’s basketball team together after its debut at the Big East Tournament earlier this month — a 30-point win over Georgetown — and informed the Huskies that was their first time playing a conference game with everyone available this season on the court.
Azzi Fudd was astounded. The Huskies had gone through 20 regular-season Big East games before that. But thanks to the return of star guard, as well as fellow sophomore Caroline Ducharme a little over two weeks prior, they had 10 players available for the first time. With nonconference play included, that had only happened one other time across the previous 31 games.
“I was like, ‘Wow, that is a crazy statement,’” Fudd said. “That kind of right there was like, ‘Wow, if we get our stuff together and everyone stays healthy, we get things clicking, we’re gonna be unbeatable.’”
The impact of Fudd’s longawaited return after missing the bulk of the season with a right knee injury can’t be overstated for No. 2 seed Uconn entering NCAA Tournament play, which kicks off with a first-round game against No. 15 seed Vermont on Saturday.
“Azzi’s the kind of player that can just in five possessions flow the game open, can take a 5-point lead and make it a 20-point lead,” Auriemma said. “So having somebody like that is just invaluable.
“I know she hasn’t played a lot of basketball recently, so a little bit at a time. And she’s looked really, really good in practice. You can still see there’s a little bit of rustiness there, which is natural. But
like I said last year when we added Paige (Bueckers), I said, ‘I don't know that anybody in the country all of a sudden is adding somebody of that caliber.' Now we just have to obviously take advantage of it.”
That unique ability was put on full display in the third quarter of the Big East Tournament title game against Villanova. Uconn led by 11 points when Fudd got going with seven minutes left. She had an assist, a triple, a steal and another 3-pointer in a two-and-a-half minute span, and suddenly the Huskies were up 23 points. They grew that lead to as much as 25 shortly after and Fudd hit another trey later in the third as well.
Fudd's minutes steadily increased from 16 to 21 to 32 across those three games. Her shot was a bit rusty and she said her legs were very tired, but having this past week or so to practice and get back into the flow of things has helped a lot.
“It was just the first little intro,” Fudd said, “But I'm ready now.”
Fudd was asked a lot of questions on Selection Sunday about whether she feels any pressure to come back and play at a certain level to help the Huskies reach a 15th consecutive Final Four. Her response was much like the one she gave to reporters before the start of the season: she doesn't choose to look at any of this as pressure.
Following Bueckers' ACL tear in August, everyone was looking at Fudd, the former No. 1 overall recruit with superstar potential who had been hampered by a foot injury throughout her freshman year, to step up as Uconn's go-to scorer. Auriemma even told her, “You gotta be be Azzi and you gotta be a little bit of Paige.”
Fudd responded with an All-american worthy start to the season. She scored an astonishing 90 points and made 11 3-pointers through the first three games, two of which were against NCAA Tournament teams in Texas (4-seed) and NC State (7-seed).
She was averaging 24 points while shooting 54.4% from the field and 43.5% from deep entering the seventh game at Notre Dame, when she suffered a right knee injury that kept her out eight games. Fudd returned to the court on Jan. 11 and recorded 14 points in 20 minutes off the bench in a 40-point win over St. John's, a team now going dancing as a No. 11 seed.
However, Fudd injured the same knee in the following game against Georgetown. She'd have to sit out another 14 games before stepping back onto the court against the same team to start the postseason.
“I think injuries definitely give you a brand new perspective on the game, on how much you love it, how much it means to you. It makes you work harder. That was my motivation all through my rehab processes both times, just remembering how much I want to play, having to sit there and see the whole team struggle at times knowing that I wanted to be able to contribute and not just have to suffer in silence on the side. So that was my motivation and I'm back, so now I'm doing everything I can to stay back and help the team win.”
Though there were struggles, particularly so in the month of February, Fudd also watched her teammates step up in her absence, with Aaliyah Edwards and Lou Lopez Sénéchal leading the way in scoring. Having their production along with the returns of Fudd and Ducharme, who missed 13 games across January and February with a concussion, and the rest of the team gives the Huskies even more confidence entering the Big Dance.
Fudd feels like a much different player and different person than she was at this time last year, and that goes beyond the strength and hunger gained from having to sit on the sidelines.
“Last year I was very nervous for all it,” Fudd said. “First NCAA Tournament, something that you dream of as a little kid. So having last year's experience under my belt, I am very excited and I can't wait to go through this with this different team that we have.”
Whether or not she's knocking down shots at a high clip and going off for 30 points, Fudd's impact goes well beyond her scoring.
Having Fudd as another outside threat , along with Lopez Sénéchal and Ducharme, opens up the paint to give Dorka Juhász and Edwards more room to operate as well as more space for others to drive inside. That was put on display in the Big East Tournament, as Uconn scored an average 38.7 points in the paint through those three games.
Fudd's teammates were quick to point out that she's a strong defender too. Plus having 10 players available means more leeway for substitutions, which allows everyone to be more aggressive and exert more energy on defense. Across the three games with Fudd back, the Huskies held opponents to an average 49 points on 26.9% shooting from the field and 20.7% from deep.
That all gives them a lot of confidence as March Madness gets underway.
“When we played the past three games, you could just tell how much we missed her,” Juhász said. “Having her back, we're a whole different team.”