UNCASVILLE — UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has spent years picking on Azzi Fudd for her rebounding, constantly challenging the star sharpshooter to do more just than knock down 3-pointers.
But after Fudd put up 24 points and a career-high eight boards in a win over Utah on Sunday, even the impossible-to-please head coach couldn’t find a single thing to complain about.
“Today was one of the most aggressive halves that I’ve seen her have,” Auriemma said. “There are times when she puts the ball on the on the floor and she’s thinking, ‘Maybe I’m gonna pass,’ and I never got that feeling today … She did rebound, and her defense today was really good. When you get to be a senior and you get to be all that, like everybody says she’s all that, you have to be able to do all that. So I guess that’s how it goes.”
Fudd’s performance against Utah came less than 48 hours after she dropped a season-best 31 points on seven made 3-pointers, powering the No. 1 Huskies to their first top-10 victory over No. 6 Michigan. She currently leads UConn in scoring, averaging 21 points per game and was crowned Big East Player of the Week on Monday for just the third time in her career.
It’s impossible to talk about Fudd’s season so far without starting on her shooting. The Huskies star has been exactly as advertised beyond the arc, averaging 54.8% on seven attempts per game. She hasn’t had a game below 40% from 3-point range since the season opener, where she still scored 20 points. Fudd is currently the only player in the country with at least 19 made 3-pointers on fewer than 40 attempts, and she is one of two players shooting 50% or better on more than 35 attempts from deep.
Fudd has always been one of the best shooters in the country, but the streakiness that she grappled with in 2024-25 has disappeared early this season. Last season she made four-plus 3-pointers eight times over 34 appearances, and she did so just twice in back-to-back games. Six games into 2025-26, Fudd already has three performances in a row with at least four made 3-pointers, and all three have come against power conference opponents.
Almost exactly a year ago, Fudd was making her first game appearance for UConn since the right ACL and meniscus tear she suffered in November 2023. Injuries plagued the first three seasons of Fudd’s college career, and returning to the court was mentally challenging for her long after her knee had fully healed. But with a dominant national championship performance and a fully-healthy offseason now behind her, Fudd said she’s shed the fear that once weighed her down.
“I feel like I’m in a completely different space than I was last year,” Fudd said. “Last year I was nervous just to be out there — excited, but figuring out who I am now with a completely different team that I’ve ever played with … I don’t have those lingering doubts that you have when you come back of like, am I gonna get hurt again or am I the same player? All of that is out the window.”
Arguably more impressive than her shooting is the way Fudd has expanded her game beyond scoring this season. The redshirt senior is currently averaging 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists, both significant career bests, and she has also recorded single-game career highs in both categories over the last three games with seven assists against Ohio State and her eight boards against Utah.
Fudd has also established herself as one of the Huskies’ top defenders in the backcourt averaging another career-high 2.2 steals. She handled the assignment of Michigan’s Syla Swords for much of the top-10 matchup, and the Wolverines star got off seven field goal attempts with a single make when Fudd was directly guarding her in the first half. Fudd gave up just one of Swords’ six made 3-pointers after halftime, and when she switched to covering Michigan’s Olivia Olson in the fourth quarter, Swords went nuclear with 12 points including nine in the final minute of the game.
All of Fudd’s advance defensive metrics — win shares per 40 minutes, defensive rating, steal and block percentages — are the best they’ve ever been, and the star guard attributes her improvement primarily to a shift in mindset.
“Defense is all about effort and how bad you want it,” Fudd said. “So I think (I’m) going in and making sure I control the controllables, and defense is completely, or mostly, controllable. It’s also being able to trust my teammates and know that if I make a mistake, I make a mistake. We’ll figure it out, we’ll get it back and not letting that linger but really trying to take risks and just keep that mindset of no one’s going to score on me.”
The biggest challenge left for Fudd to conquer is less tangible: To evolve into an unquestioned voice of leadership for the Huskies. The redshirt senior is reserved by nature and still feels she’s a work in progress as a leader, but it was clear in both games at the Hall of Fame Showcase that the team rallied around Fudd’s confidence and composure under pressure.
“It’s just like, what can I do? What can I contribute? I know what I’m capable of, and I’m just trying to be a great teammate every night,” Fudd said. “I’m proud of how I handled the late leadership aspect these last couple of games, but it’s obviously still something that I want to continue to work on.”