PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas– Connecticut freshman guard Azzi Fudd was already being labeled the next big thing when she was a rising ninth grader at St. John’s College High School in Arlington, Va.
The 5-11 prodigy took a huge step toward achieving her destiny, scoring 18 points on six of nine threes with a hair trigger release as the second-ranked Huskies (3-0) held off 23d ranked South Florida, 60-53, to advance to a long anticipated matchup against top-ranked South Carolina in the finals of the women’s Battle for Atlantis here Sunday.
The UConn faithful who fell in love with teammate Paige Bueckers last year has been waiting for this ever since Fudd arrived on campus.
Fudd is the most heralded recruit in Gino Auriemma’s program since Breanna Stewart, a record four time MOP in the NCAA women’s tournament from 2013 through 2016.
But she had been tentative offensively in the Huskies’ first two games, leaving Auriemma to grouse on the sidelines when Fudd would pass up shots. .Coach has been telling me to shoot every time touch it and not overthink it,” Fudd said. “That was my goal today. When I saw my defenders’ hands weren’t in my face, just shoot it.”
Auriemma has a history of giving his best shooters the ultimate green light.
“I don’t understand why somebody who is a good shooter would pass up shots,” he said. “In Azzi’s case, if God ever gave anyone a better stroke, I haven’t seen it. It must be something in the water in Storrs. Some of our best shooters, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were like that at first. So was (current sophomore All American Paige (Bueckers) at the start of her freshman year last season. They all think being great teammates is not taking so many shots. I think being a great teammate is making shots when you’re open.”
Bueckers realized the impact Fudd could make against a team like USF, a methodical defensive oriented team that likes to take away the inside game and make you beat them from the perimeter. “I told her in the locker room before the game to take 20 threes,” Bueckers said.
Fudd has a huge upside. “She’s only three games into her career,” Auriemma said. “I keep having to remind myself this is the worst you’ll see her. She has the potential to be really special. We had a scrimmage against BC before the season and she had 25, played like a fifth year senior.”
Fudd’s mother Katie, who played for Georgetown and was a WNBA draft pick, named Azzi after former Tennessee Olympian Jennifer Azzi, Fudd received her first scholarship offer from Maryland in sixth grade, Fudd emerged on the national radar when she attended Mike Flynn’s Bluestar 30 camp in eighth grade and was named Gatorade’s national player of the Year as a sophomore when she averaged 26.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists. She won the award again as a senior when she averaged 25/2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.2 steals during an abbreviated season after missing most of her junior year with a knee injury.
She was the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2021 and chose Connecticut over UCLA, Louisville and the Terps. Given the success Hall of Fame coach Gino Auriemma’s has had with guards like Olympians Bird, Taurasi, Maya Moore and Bueckers, a consensus All American who won the Wooden and Naismith Awards last year as a freshman, it seemed a natural progression.
Bueckers, who became close friends with Fudd through USA Basketball actually helped recruit her to this storied program in hopes of eventually combining with her to follow in the footsteps of Bird and Taurasi and form one of the great backcourts in college basketball history.
But it just seems like a matter of time.
Bueckers led the Huskies with 21 points on 8 for 16 shooting and senior guard Krysten Williams added 10 against the internationally laced AAC favored Bulls (3-2). But the Huskies, who struggled to establish themselves against South Florida, didn’t catch fire until Auriemma brought Fudd off the bench. Even then, it was a close game with the Bulls taking a 45-42 lead on a second chance field goal by Shae Laverett before Bueckers hit a three at the end of the third period and Fudd came right back with another to send the Huskies ahead 48-45 with 9:42 to play in the game.
“You don’t come to this type of tournament to smack people. You come to play good competition and find out who you are and what you can be,” Auriemma said. “this is Jose ((Fernandez’) best team since he’s been at South Florida, I think we showed we could take a punch today.”
