Azzi Fudd takes over in Paige Bueckers' absence: 'I was hoping she would do it'
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Azzi Fudd takes over in Paige Bueckers' absence
As UConn prepared to be without Paige Bueckers for a few games due to a knee sprain, the team followed a simple mantra: No single player could replace the superstar. Instead, the Huskies would use a collective effort to fill the void.
“The worst thing you can do is have four kids think, ‘Well, I gotta be Paige today. I gotta take over her role,’” Geno Auriemma explained on Tuesday. “That's the worst thing that can happen. Everybody just has to do their thing.”
That’s what the coach said publicly, at least. Secretly, he believed Azzi Fudd could do exactly that — take over in Bueckers’ absence. He just kept it to himself.
“Azzi’s probably the one guard out there that has the ability to do a lot of the things — all the things, maybe — that Paige does,” he told SNY at halftime. “So it’s natural that she should take over in this scenario. I was hoping — I didn’t say anything to her — but I was hoping she would do it.”
The result?
“She did exactly that,” Auriemma said.
That she did. Fudd put together her best game in years, finishing with 23 points on 9-14 shooting in just 20 minutes of action in an 81-27 win over Xavier. It was her first-time scoring 20+ since dropping 22 on Baylor in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. She had more points than Xavier until the 2:52 mark of the fourth quarter.
The damage didn’t all come from behind the arc, either. While she went 3-5 from deep, she also put the ball on the floor and got to the rim for five layups — including a pair of and-ones.
“When it's a little bit of everything, that's when she's playing her best,” Auriemma said.
Fudd’s impression of Bueckers wasn’t flawless, though. While Bueckers usually gets UConn off to a good start with a few quick baskets, Fudd didn’t do much in the early going. After missing her first shot of the night, Auriemma subbed her out — then sent her back in just 1:37 later.
“When you haven't played a lot, I think the first three or four trips up the floor are the hardest,” he explained. “I just thought she was laboring a little bit and I thought she would come out, get her second wind, then go back out and she'd be okay.”
The trick worked. On the ensuing possession, Fudd forced a steal on one end then drained a 3-pointer down the other. A minute later, she cut to the basket for three points the old-fashioned way.
Just like that, she matched Xavier’s scoring output for the entire first quarter.
“I don't know what I started with. I don't know what that was,” Fudd said. “But I had caught my second wind as soon as I sat down for a second. I just needed that quick breather.”
Yet while Bueckers’ absence opened the door for Fudd’s breakout, that was only a part of it. In her fifth game back from a minor knee sprain, she also felt good physically. That allowed her basketball skills to take over unencumbered.
“I felt like I played with more confidence than what I’ve been playing with,” she said. “I think partially confidence in myself and my playing abilities, but confidence in my knee. So I just felt a freer on the court tonight.”
Considering Fudd’s extensive injury history, hopefully that’s a harbinger of things to come — even after Bueckers returns.