UConn guard Azzi Fudd (35) waves to fans during the practice session open to the public before UConn’s championship matchup against South Carolina in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
TAMPA, Fla. — Playing in her first NCAA Final Four in 2022 should have been a memory of a lifetime for Azzi Fudd.
The UConn women’s basketball team’s graduate student guard remembers little from the time the Huskies arrived in Minneapolis, to their semifinal win over reigning champion Stanford, to their loss to South Carolina in the final.
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“I would just say the entirety of my freshman year that I didn’t play the way I wanted to,” Fudd said Saturday. “I felt I wasn’t myself, just a shell of myself. Especially at the Final Four the pressure that I put on myself, the nerves I had … I barely remember the Stanford game and that was such a huge moment and I was so nervous.”
Fudd gets another opportunity to help UConn win its record 12th national championship Sunday when it takes on South Carolina, seeking its third title in four years, at 3 p.m. at Amalie Arena.
UConn guard Azzi Fudd (35) poses with fans during the practice session open to the public before UConn’s championship matchup against South Carolina in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
It was three years ago at the Target Center that the Huskies snapped a four-game national semifinal losing streak by holding off Stanford 63-58. Fudd, who was named to the NCAA Bridgeport Regional all-tournament team, had eight points on 2-for-8 shooting in 27 minutes.
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The next night, 24 hours before the championship game, UConn went out for a team dinner. From there, it was all downhill for Fudd.
“I don’t know if I got food poisoning or what,” Fudd said. “But I was up all night throwing up and it was awful. I didn’t go to shootaround. The doctor tried to put an IV in me and tried every needle we had but they couldn’t find a vein. I was so dehydrated. And I hate needles so that was traumatic.
“I was exhausted during the game. I was already nervous and worried about how I was going to play and then I was so tired. It felt like I was pulling a truck. Someone asked me yesterday about the championship game my freshman year and what kind of advice I would give and I said, ‘Absolutely nothing. I want to leave that game in the past. Nothing was gained.’ That’s why I’m not going to have Brussels sprouts tonight because I had that before.”
UConn guard Azzi Fudd (35) flashes a smile in No. 2 UConn’s 85-51 win over No. 1 UCLA in the Final Four matchup of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Friday, April 4, 2025.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
Fudd played only 16 minutes and made only one shot, a 3-pointer with 4:09 left and the game already decided. The Gamecocks led wire-to-wire in a 64-49 victory that was the Huskies’ first national championship game loss after 11 wins.
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Paige Bueckers was the only UConn player in double figures with 14 points. Caroline Ducharme added nine off the bench and gave UConn a spark as it pulled within six late in the third quarter after trailing by as many as 18 in the first half. But South Carolina seemed to be in control regardless of what the Huskies did.
“I felt like I couldn’t move and Paige was the only one doing anything,” Fudd said. “Everyone was there but Paige was trying to carry us on her own. She did what she could but that was a really good South Carolina team and she couldn’t do it on her own. There weren’t enough of us to help her.”
Azzi Fudd #35 of the UConn Huskies reacts in the locker room after defeating the UCLA Bruins during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game at Amalie Arena on April 4, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.
Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Fudd said that she was the only UConn player who fell ill in Minneapolis.
The Huskies, with Bueckers sidelined for the season with a knee (ACL) injury, lost in the Sweet 16 in 2023 but returned to the Final Four a year ago. This time it was Fudd who was sidelined by an ACL tear and UConn lost a two-point heartbreaker to Iowa in the semifinals.
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A 78-64 win over No. 1 Spokane 4 Regional seed USC Monday gave the Huskies their 24th Final Four bid and their 85-51 rout of overall tournament No. 1 seed UCLA Friday has them 40 minutes from ending their title drought that dates back to 2016. Fudd had 19 points in a decisive first half against the Bruins.
“I’m just excited to have her healthy, to have her being her best self and to have her aggressive, to have her playing with joy and passion after all that she’s been through three years ago, two years ago, last year,” Bueckers said. “I’m so extremely proud and extremely happy for her.”
Azzi Fudd #35 of the UConn Huskies greets fans after defeating the UCLA Bruins during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game at Amalie Arena on April 4, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.
C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Fudd, who has announced her plan to return to UConn and use her final year of college eligibility in 2025-26, is 10 points from joining the Huskies’ 1,000-point club.
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She was all smiles in anticipation of Sunday’s final. That wasn’t the case three years ago.
“I remember going out to the game, talking to our coaches before we went into the locker room,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I said, ‘One of two things is going to happen tonight. We’re either going to win a close game maybe in double overtime because South Carolina doesn’t play great, or we’re going to get blown out. This is not going to be one of those, you know, we lost by 10.’ I was right. Five minutes into the game, we got blown out.
“You have to come to this particular game feeling like you have all your bases covered,” he added. “And then at the same time you have to play exceptionally well. Nobody’s going to lose the game tomorrow. Somebody has to go out and win it. We have a very difficult task tomorrow and so do they. That’s the way it’s supposed to be on championship night.”
Azzi Fudd #35 of the Connecticut Huskies walks off the court after an open practice session ahead of the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship game at Amalie Arena on April 5, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.
Thien-An Truong/ISI Photos/Getty Images
UConn (36-3) defeated South Carolina (35-3) 87-58 on Feb. 16 as Fudd had 28 points and the Huskies ended the Gamecocks’ 71-game home winning streak.
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A repeat of that would stop a Gamecocks’ repeat and send Bueckers, Aubrey Griffin, and Kaitlyn Chen out as champions.
Fudd has waited three years for a second opportunity to win a title.
“That’s what we’ve all dreamed of since we were younger,” Fudd said. “We came to Connecticut with that one goal in mind. To be able to accomplish that would mean everything to us, especially to win it with this team because we’ve been through so much together. Just to be here is incredible but we’re not done, we’re not settling. The end goal isn’t to get to the national championship game, but to win it.
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“I plan on enjoying tomorrow. I plan on having fun with my team and remembering it. It’s going to be a special day.”
