Graduate guard Azzi Fudd was smiling ear to ear after crossing the 30-point threshold after notching a three pointer late in the third quarter. Just a mere 30 seconds later, she hit the 34-point mark off a St John’s turnover.
With those 34 points, Fudd broke her career record of points and three-pointers made in a game, after previously setting her record with 32 points against Texas on Nov. 14, 2022.
The Virginia native was the spark that propelled the Huskies to their dominant 78-40 win over St. John’s on Wednesday night.
“It looked like she was on a personal quest to try and be impactful every time she touched the ball, that’ll be huge this coming weekend,” head coach Geno Auriemma said to the media when asked about Fudd.
With Fudd notching above 30 points, the guard did so just a day after Liam McNeeley from the UConn men’s basketball team dropped 38 points in their win over Creighton.
The last time these two basketball programs did this? On Jan. 14 and Jan. 15, Shabazz Napier and Bria Hartley each notched above 30-points in their games against Louisville and Rutgers, respectively.
“It’s really fun to watch, just as a basketball fan, and almost felt like we were all just watching Azzi [Fudd] have a night,” graduate guard Paige Bueckers said when asked by the media to brag about Fudd, “For her to be confident, be aggressive. It’s what we all want from her and what we know is in her.”
Despite St. John’s taking the lead 4-2 early in the first half, the Huskies immediately took control of the game immediately going on a 7-0 run over the middle three minutes of the first frame.
Fudd’s fellow teammate Bueckers got in on the fun with a driving layup off the fast break from a St. John’s turnover at the midway point in the first quarter for her first points of the game.
At the end of the first quarter the score was 24-13, Huskies. After that, the tandem of Bueckers and Fudd proved to be the catalysts for their squad for the remainder of the game, for two reasons. That being their aggressiveness defensively and their ability to keep getting their shots in the basket.
“That’s the object in sports, right? To be aggressive, to be the aggressor,” Auriemma said when asked about the two guards.
While on the topic of aggression, with forwards Morgan Cheli and Ice Brady out with injury, a player needed to step up for the program by the boards, in addition to Bueckers.
That player for the Huskies was Aubrey Griffin, who stepped on the court for the first time during the game at the start of the second quarter.
In total, both Bueckers and Griffin totaled five steals and eight blocks.
Griffin, who recently returned to the lineup after suffering an ACL injury, feels that she is getting closer and closer to getting her legs back, and for her, today was a step in the right direction.
At the end of the first half the score was 45-20, but the Huskies did not stop there.
Heading into the second half, Auriemma still utilized his small ball lineup consisting of Bueckers, Fudd, Griffin, KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade to his advantage and that proved to be what would show the weaknesses of the St. John’s squad.
Despite the Red Storm’s leading scorer, Lashae Dwyer dropping 11 points on the night, compared to her two points she notched when these two Big East foes faced each other in February, St. John’s could not compete with the full court press the Huskies pushed on the Johnnies.
At the end of the third quarter, with the score 68-32, the Red Storm had less points than Azzi Fudd had already notched for the entire game.
With Fudd’s 34 points setting the tone for the Huskies, it was a huge confidence booster for the squad as the season winds down and the program enters the coveted month of March.
“It’s time for us to clean everything up, tighten up, just get where we need to be at this time of the year,” Fudd said to the media when asked about the last half of the season. “And I think that just how we’ve been practicing lately.”
Next up, the Huskies will be put to their biggest test since their games against Notre Dame and USC. They are set to travel to Columbia, S.C. to take on the No. 4 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. With their size and full court speed, it will be imperative for the Huskies to stay feisty by the boards. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m., and Husky fans can tune into the game on SNY and listen in on UConn Sports Network from Learfield.