STORRS — The five players walking in the UConn women’s basketball team’s Senior Day ceremony on Sunday have very little in common — not even their graduation year.
Azzi Fudd will leave the Huskies with a Masters degree after an ACL tear in 2023 gave her a fifth year of eligibility to use. Classmate Caroline Ducharme, also in her fifth year, appeared in more games as a freshman than she has over the last three years combined due to a complex series of head and neck injuries.
Ice Brady and Ayanna Patterson are seniors academically, but both could return next season with redshirt eligibility still remaining. Serah Williams played most of her career at Wisconsin, where the program won a total of 34 games in three years, before transferring to UConn for her final season hoping to help the team bring home back-to-back NCAA titles.
The only constant across all five is the adversity they’ve each overcome to reach the moment where they’ll hoist framed jerseys over their heads in front of a full house at Gampel Pavilion after the Huskies’ game against Providence.
“It’s kind of a hodgepodge group … but they’ve all had one similarity, and that is they’ve all had to endure a really difficult journey here,” coach Geno Auriemma said after practice Saturday. “From all the injuries and all the wasted time on the bench, not having the opportunity to play for so long, that’s not the greatest college experience. It’s difficult to come out on Senior Night when you feel like you haven’t had a great four years.”
For Williams, this season has been by far the most challenging of her college career. The senior center was averaging eye-popping numbers at Wisconsin largely because she was the most talented player on the team by a comfortable margin. She took 15 field-goal attempts per game as a junior and accounted for nearly a third of the Badgers’ rebounds.
The transition to UConn came with a major learning curve, and Williams hasn’t produced at a comparable level in Storrs with so many stars surrounding her. Her confidence has been challenged in ways she never anticipated, but Williams said she’s grateful for the development she’s experienced as a person and player.
“I took myself out of my comfort zone, and I think I had to do that just to give myself a chance and see what I could learn from it,” Williams said. “I’ve definitely had to tap into my mental health side of things. When the pressure is so high, I didn’t really expect it to affect me as much (as it has), but I really learned how to train myself to be able to work through the mental … I’m in this environment for a reason, so instead of being sad or upset, how can I grow?”
Brady and Patterson, who both signed with UConn as top five recruits in the Class of 2022, have appeared in a single game together over four years due to injuries. Brady missed her freshman year after dislocating her patella during preseason, and she also underwent season-ending surgery Monday for a knee injury that has sidelined her for all but two games in 2025-26. Patterson missed all of 2023-24 to undergo surgery for patellar tendonitis, and a shoulder injury kept her out of the 2024-25 season. The only time they’ve shared the court was Nov. 9 against Florida State.
Both will have two medical redshirt years to use after this season if they wish, but Auriemma said he hasn’t yet had any serious conversations with either about their plans for 2026-27.
“I ask all the time when they ask me to (walk), does this mean you’re leaving? You know it’s over right?” Auriemma joked. “‘Well, I don’t know, maybe not.’ We’ve got to put an end to this multiple Senior Nights for people … But there’s not been a discussion other than me saying, ‘That’s it, it’s over. We’re not doing these over and over again.’”
Players walking in multiple Senior Days may be a pet peeve of Auriemma’s, but several recent examples have laid a blueprint of hope for Brady and Patterson. Since 2023, four players have been honored on Senior Day, then returned to use an additional year of eligibility: Dorka Juhasz in 2023, Aubrey Griffin and Paige Bueckers in 2024, and Fudd in 2025. For all except Griffin, the season after their first Senior Day was the most successful of their careers.
Fudd was sidelined for exactly as many games (76) as she appeared in through her first four years in Storrs, but the redshirt senior is now thriving amid her healthiest season ever. The star guard hasn’t missed a game and is averaging a career-high 18 points plus three assists, 2.4 steals and 2.6 rebounds. She is also on the verge of historic shooting splits hitting 49.7% from the field, 47% from 3-point range and 95% at the free throw line.
“It was 100% worth it. I definitely made the right decision,” Fudd said. “This year has been honestly the most fun I’ve had from every perspective, point of view, area of my life. I’ve grown a lot … just being confident and trusting myself. There’s no doubt, no second guessing.”
Ducharme also used a medical redshirt year in 2025-26, and though she’s appeared in just 15 games averaging 8.5 minutes, she knows she made the right choice in coming back this season. She said her advice to Brady and Patterson on deciding whether to return or not is simply to trust themselves.
“I have not regretted it for a second,” Ducharme said. “I think it’s just doing what they feel is right and making an educated decision. (You can) weigh people’s opinions, but at the end of the day, it’s your decision and you can decide what you want to do with it. It’s your life.”
How to watch
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Time/date: Noon, Sunday
Team records: UConn 28-0 (17-0), Providence 14-14 (7-10)
Series record: UConn leads 51-21
Last meeting: 90-53 UConn, Dec. 31 in Providence, R.I.
TV: FS1
Streaming: FOX Sports app
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9