Azzi Fudd’s return was worth the wait for the UConn women’s basketball team

Some two months since she last played in a game, freshman Azzi Fudd completed shootaround Wednesday prior to No. 10 UConn women’s Big East matchup at DePaul and contemplated the timing of her return.

She hadn’t played since Nov. 22, the Huskies’ loss to South Carolina in the Bahamas, due to the beginning of a stress reaction in her foot, an injury that’s been bothering her since the summer. The Huskies wanted to be cautious to not bring her back too fast, but no doubt the freshman was anxious to return as February crept closer.

Prior to Wednesday’s game, UConn coach Geno Auriemma told media that she needed more time to get back into game shape. Fudd was already participating in individual workouts and team practice. When she felt good at shootaround, she made up her mind. It was go time.

“Why not?” Fudd recalled. “What am I waiting for?”

A few hours and 22 minutes of play later, she said, “I’m really glad I did.”

So are the Huskies.

Fudd gave UConn exactly what it needed to fight off an upset-minded DePaul team in Chicago, 80-78: Another guard who could run up and down with the Blue Demons, a much-needed threat from 3 and a deliverer of clutch baskets that were all the more impressive considering it was Fudd’s fifth-ever collegiate game and first in two months. In all, she finished with 15 points, the third-most on the team, on 6-for-10 shooting (3-for-6 on 3s).

The fact that she was going to play at all was a surprise. Fudd — who arrived to the game in uniform for the first time since her injury — looked on from the bench while teammates took the floor at Wintrust Arena to get some shots up. It wasn’t clear until she joined the team for stretching and warmups — and when Auriemma told SNY she’d be getting a few minutes of play — that she would make her return.

It was a win that Fudd appeared to be moving well throughout the game, considering her foot injury hampered her mobility against South Carolina in November and limited her to 10 minutes of play.

Fudd, a big-time recruit whose decision to play at UConn elicited the same level of hype as Paige Bueckers, didn’t just go through the motions in her return. She showed off her famed shooting form and footwork that didn’t show that she went weeks and weeks without live reps. Fudd’s first 3-point attempt didn’t fall, but she made the next try from the left wing.

Fudd helped the Huskies with her defense (three steals) and facilitating, but her timely shots provided huge momentum swings. After they had allowed a 21-2 DePaul run in the second quarter and trailed by nine, Fudd’s corner 3 on an inbounds play and her two-dribble pullup jumper off a handoff from Olivia Nelson-Ododa, turned a three-point deficit into a two-point UConn edge. She then rattled off seven of UConn’s first 10 points of the fourth — thanks to another pull-up jumper off the dribble, a 3 in transition and a backdoor layup — to keep DePaul an arm’s length away.

With UConn struggling at times to find an offensive identity in the absence of Bueckers, Fudd proved she can be a go-to option alongside the likes of Christyn Williams and Caroline Ducharme. Moreover, the freshman sharpshooter demonstrated flashes of the efficiency from the arc that the Huskies have so desperately lacked since she and Bueckers went down. It’s a small sample size since she has only played five games and taken 24 shots from the arc, but Fudd’s 45.8% clip from 3 is by far the team’s best (the next closest is Williams’ 32.1% mark). It will likely open things up for teammates moving forward.

“When you add somebody like that to the lineup, that makes a lot of people feel a lot more confident, especially me” Auriemma said. “Now we have a better opportunity to withstand [problems in the backcourt], and we’re better offensively with those two [Fudd and Williams], for sure.”

With Fudd and Williams, who was out due to COVID-19 protocol, both healthy, the Huskies should be able to manage Fudd’s minutes as she eases her way back into things. Even if she remains on a minutes restriction for the time being, Fudd gives Auriemma a fifth guard to work with after the team spent six of its previous nine games with just three options in the backcourt.

The Huskies have plenty of things to clean up and could have lost the DePaul game, but what’s perhaps most promising? If Wednesday is any indication, Fudd is going to be an immediate difference-maker offensively and a helpful piece defensively. More broadly speaking, the Huskies are now the healthiest they’ve been since mid-November. If they can stay that way, they’ll have 11 regular-season games left to solidify their roles and on-court chemistry, which has already made huge strides over the last few weeks and Wednesday alone.

Then it’s just a matter of incorporating one remaining player back into the fold, and she happens to the reigning national player of the year in Bueckers.

Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com