HARTFORD, Conn. — Though she showed glimpses of greatness, Azzi Fudd didn’t feel at all like herself in her freshman season at UConn. The 5-foot-11 guard dealt with a foot injury all year which hampered her movement and limited her effectiveness.
Huskies coach Geno Auriemma was already expecting to Fudd to make a big leap as a sophomore, but now she’ll be asked to do even more with star guard Paige Bueckers out with a torn ACL for the entirety of the 2022-23 season.
“There’s no reason why she can’t be one of the top players in the country,” Auriemma said. “And that’s how I’m going to coach her, because that’s what I think she can do.”
Auriemma said there were months at a time where Fudd wasn’t fully healthy and couldn’t practice last year, especially early in the season. Fudd, who joined the UConn program as the top recruit in the country, came off the bench in the first four games.
Fudd particularly impressed with 18 points and six 3-pointers against South Florida on Nov. 21, but then struggled the following day against No. 1 South Carolina, only playing 10 minutes. It was announced a little over a week later that she would be out for at least two weeks with what Auriemma described as the beginning of a stress reaction in her foot, which had been bothering her since the summer.
The injury kept Fudd out for 11 games, until a Jan. 26 contest against DePaul. She made her first career start a few games later against Tennessee and had 25 points, four assists and four rebounds. The impressive performance included seven 3-pointers on nine attempts. She followed it up with 29 points, four rebounds and three steals against Villanova, but the Huskies lost, 72-69, dropping their first conference game since 2013.
“There were spurts where I would kind of like show my old self or what I’m capable of,” Fudd said, “but I was mostly a shooter last year and I’m capable of so much more.”
Fudd said her explosiveness wasn’t there throughout last year. Stepping in different directions often hurt because of the injury so she’d alter the way she moved to lessen the pain.
Still, Fudd scored at least 15 points four more times that season, including 19 points, five rebounds and two assists against NC State in the Elite Eight. She hit a few pull-up jumpers and made a pair of crucial free throws in the first overtime of the 91-87 double overtime win that pushed UConn to its 14th straight Final Four.
“She had glimpses last year — you know, the end of that NC State game — where she just played without a care in the world,” assistant coach Morgan Valley said. “To see her do that more often would be great.”
That NC State game was part of 15 straight wins for the Huskies en route to the national championship game against South Carolina. But Fudd fell sick the night before, and was limited to just 16 minutes and three points in the 64-49 title-game loss.
Fudd felt like she rushed things last offseason, so she tried to be more mindful of the pain in her foot and not overdo training early this summer. She eased into individual and eventually team workouts in June. By the time she spoke with reporters in early September, Fudd remarked that her foot was doing “so much better.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent pain free, but I’m doing everything and I’m moving so much better,” Fudd said. “So I’m headed in the right direction and hopefully not stopping.”
Fudd also focused on being more comfortable with the ball in her hands and getting her pull-up jumper back this offseason. That pull-up used to be one of her favorite parts of her game, but it got away from her after tearing her ACL and MCL in her right knee in 2019, followed by COVID-19 wiping away her senior season of high school and the foot injury last year.
Valley wants to see Fudd be as aggressive as she can be this season. Though she wasn’t able to do that consistently last year because of the injury, Fudd has proved up to the task in the early stages of team workouts.
“When she’s feeling good, I don’t know many people who can stop her,” Valley said. “She’s focused, she’s ready, I think.”
Though it could be easy to make the case that Bueckers’ injury adds pressure on Fudd to perform this season, she’s choosing to look at it as an opportunity to show off everything she’s worked on.
“I’m excited not to just show everyone else that, but kind of just to show myself I’m feeling so much better, moving so much better,” Fudd said. “So I’m excited to be able to move and play the way I know I can again.”
