The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Azzi Fudd ready to make an impact for UConn
STORRS — If you’re wondering how Azzi Fudd, having only recently returned to the UConn women’s basketball lineup, will handle any pressure to lead the Huskies’ deep into the NCAA Tournament, consider her recent experience with a similarly heavy burden.
“Azzi started the season with me in her ear saying, ‘We don’t have Paige, but we have you, so you have to play like you and Paige combined,’ ” coach Geno Auriemma said.
Fudd started the season with 26 points against Northeastern, 32 against Texas and 32 against NC State. There was no better player in college basketball in November as the Huskies jumped into life without injured Paige Bueckers and sailed right along until Fudd, herself, went down on Dec. 4.
The knee injury sustained against Notre Dame, during UConn’s first loss of the season, cost her over a month. Another knee injury, which came just two games into her comeback, led to another twomonth absence. Altogether, Fudd missed 22 of 24 games before returning for the Big East Tournament.
The Huskies (29-5) rolled at Mohegan Sun as Fudd eased back into the rotation. She played 16 minutes against Georgetown, missing her first four shots, 21 minutes against Marquette, missing her first five, and 32 against Villanova, missing her first four. Playing three games in three days, Fuddwas 9-for-28 from the field and scored 25 points.
“I was really nervous,” Fudd said. “My legs were pretty tired.”
The Huskies, battered by injuries more so than any team in the nation over the past two years, will have had 10 days between games by the time they open the NCAA Tournament Saturday against Vermont at Gampel Pavilion. UConn is a No. 2 seed, in line to play Baylor or Alabama in the second round with a trip to Seattle for regional play on the line.
Thoughts drift to Dallas, of course.
Can the Huskies reach a 15th consecutive Final Four?
Will their most gifted player, Fudd, be the one to push and pull them to the usual destination?
Does she have to be? “I’m definitely ready to make an impact,” Fudd said. “I’m really excited for this tournament. I don’t think ‘carry’ is the right term for this year because everyone on this team is capable and has shown throughout the year that they can handle it and carry it in a sense. No one is going to carry the team by themselves. I think we’re all going to step up and be able to do it together.”
Fudd’s presence alone changes so much for UConn, deepening the rotation and spreading the floor. And she is the player most likely to take over stretches of games of stretches of a tournament.
“We need her out on the floor and we need her making shots,” Auriemma said. “If we can get both of those things done, I think that would be fantastic. And I’ve said this: Azzi’s the kind of player that can just, in five possessions, blow the game open, can take a five-point lead and make it a 20-point lead. So having somebody like that is invaluable.
“I know she hasn’t played a lot of basketball recently, so a little bit at a time, and she’s looked really good in practice. You can see there’s still a little bit of rustiness there, which is natural. But like I said last year when we added Paige, I don’t know that anybody in the country all of the sudden is adding somebody of that caliber.”
Bueckers returned from a knee injury after an absence of about three months to play the final two games of the 2021-22 regular season, then used the Big East Tournament to shake off the rest of the rust. By the Elite Eight, she was famously dropping 27 points on NC State in a double-overtime classic.
A prevailing thought is that it’s Fudd’s return can be of similar impact, and maybe it can. She’s also only as valuable as the sum of the parts around her. Lou Lopez Sénéchal and Nika Mühl will have to be solid on the perimeter. Same for Aaliyah Edwards and Dorka Juhász up front.
“If our other players are all playing at the level we played [at the Big East Tournament], it’s easy for her to just do her thing,” Auriemma said. “If everybody struggles at the same time and it’s all on her, I don’t want to think about that.