UConn women’s basketball team will be without Christyn Williams, Azzi Fudd this weekend
UConn women’s basketball fans holding out hope that Huskies guards Christyn Williams and Azzi Fudd will play against Seton Hall on Friday and St. John’s on Sunday will be disappointed. UConn coach Geno Auriemma told media on Thursday that both players will be unavailable.
Williams, the team’s second-leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, has been in COVID-19 protocols since Sunday. Fudd has played in just four games this season after being sidelined in early December due to the beginning of a stress reaction in her foot, though she has recently started individual workouts.
“The team you saw [last] Monday is the team that’s playing this weekend,” Auriemma said.
Auriemma added the program will know more about when both can return Monday with UConn’s game at South Carolina next Thursday looming. Auriemma told Bob Joyce on the UConn Coaches Show Thursday that they’re shooting for Williams to return for that game.
Still, he seemed relatively optimistic about the prospect of Williams, Fudd — and eventually Paige Bueckers — returning. Auriemma estimated that with the three of them being out, the Huskies have between 40-45 points sitting on the bench.
“Each day that goes by, we’re getting closer to having everybody back,” he said.
Williams has been a stalwart in the rotation since arriving on campus in 2018, starting every game aside from 2020 Senior Day and missing just one game in her career prior to Monday. The senior guard had been playing some of her best basketball of the season leading into the Oregon game.
“It’s definitely difficult,” fellow senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa said about missing Williams. “She’s a key part of our team. She’s a very consistent player in terms of just playing in the games. I think we take it for granted that she’s usually there all the time.”
Fudd recently started running and getting in some individual work.
“This week Azzi has been able to get some really, really good rehab going and has been able to get some individual work done on the court for about half an hour since we got back [from Oregon], two or three times,” Auriemma said. “The plan is to keep adding more time and then keep evaluating and seeing how it feels and go from there, and see if we can get her on the court for actual practice at some point.”
While UConn will be stuck with just three guards (Evina Westbrook, Caroline Ducharme and Nika Mühl) until either Williams or Fudd returns, that won’t mean Mühl will be playing 40 minutes like she did against Oregon. Mühl is four games back from a foot injury and had been playing on a minutes restriction since her return. Auriemma said he’ll need to be more careful about her minutes going forward to avoid exacerbating the issue, even though that means he’ll only be able to put two guards on the court at times.
“That’s too many minutes. ... Nika won’t play 40 minutes, I guarantee you that,” Auriemma said. “It’s not good for her, it’s not good for our team, mostly her. It’s not good for her now, next week, next month, long term. ... It’s just not fair. I need to take care of that. That’s on me.”
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com
