How UConn women’s basketball is responding to Azzi Fudd’s knee injury ahead of Thursday’s game against Princeton

As UConn women’s basketball began practice Wednesday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion Azzi Fudd sat on the bench with a blue brace on her right knee, Paige Bueckers assisted in drills with a compression sleeve on her left leg, Ice Brady got in some work on bike off to the side and Dorka Juhász participated with a splint on her left thumb.

All four players are dealing with injuries, leaving the No. 6 Huskies with just eight healthy bodies ahead of a matchup with Princeton on Thursday — though there is a possibility Juhász, who’s been out the last five games with a broken left thumb, could play. The program announced Tuesday that Fudd had injuried her right knee in the loss to No. 5 Notre Dame and will be out three to six weeks.

“This is just freak things that are happening to us that we just have to handle,”associate head coach Chris Dailey said before practice Wednesday, filling in for head coach Geno Auriemma, who was driving back from Philadelphia to deal with a family matter. “As a coaching staff we have to handle it and as players we have to handle it, and I think they’ve done a really good job. … Sometimes when you’re put in situations where you don’t have a choice you just have to step up.

“Is it going to be pretty? Probably not. The only positive is that hopefully in three to six weeks we’ll have her back. Hopefully we’ll have Dorka back. So while we know we’re not gonna Paige or Ice, we do have an opportunity to kind of hold ground until we can get our other two players back, and that’s kind of what we’re doing.”

Fudd is the latest in a string of injuries for the Huskies dating back to last season when 10 of 12 players on the team missed at least two games due to injury or illness.

“It’s always frustrating to deal with this stuff,” Nika Mühl said. “We thought last year was just like a fluke, like a little coincidence year, it happens. But dealing with it this year, I wouldn’t say it’s much easier, but we know how to handle it better. And it’s not a surprise anymore for us. We’re just, ‘Okay, this is what we got, this is what we’re dealing with. We’ll just get through it.’ We’re just glad Azzi’s injury is only three to six weeks, it’s not season-ending, she’ll be back, so we just got to do our best to make up for what she does for us while she’s not here.”

Prior to the loss at Notre Dame, Fudd was averaging 24 points per game as the UConn’s go-to scorer. In very similar fashion to the mindset they had when Bueckers tore her ACL in August, the Huskies know no one player is going to make up for that production.

“It’s not easy replacing 20 points in in two days and trying to figure that out,” Dailey said. “But as always no one’s feeling sorry for us, we’ve got players in our program that are gonna have to step up. And whether it’s on the rebounding end, whether it’s defensively creating more opportunities, no one’s gonna replace Azzi, no one’s gonna replace her 3-point shooting, so we’re gonna have to figure out other ways to score. And I think that starts on the defensive end with creating more opportunities and it starts with our transition. So we really need to get out in transition.”

The defense and transition game were two major points of emphasis in the film room for UConn this week. Those key signature strengths of the Huskies were missing in the loss to Notre Dame. And with Fudd’s scoring production gone for the foreseeable future, that becomes even more important.

UConn will rely more on offensive production from guards Lou Lopez Senechal (17.4 points per game) and Caroline Ducharme (5.5), who had hip surgery in April, spent the summer rehabbing and has been working her way back from missing the first game of the season with neck stiffness. Ducharme was a big part of keeping the Huskies’ afloat last season when both Bueckers and Fudd were out with injury.

“I think that she’s had some good days of practice,” Dailey said of Ducharme. “I thought she played really well in Providence, I thought she gave us some good minutes. But she’s playing, she’s able to practice longer stretches, so we’re gonna need her to step up. So if it’s make a couple threes, get herself to the basket, get to the free throw line, she’s gonna have to do a little bit of everything.”

Then there’s the matter of when Juhász will return to give UConn a boost down low. The graduate forward participated in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I would say it’s probably a game-time decision,” Dailey said. “I don’t know how she’s feeling. She looks good, she’s running, but I don’t know what her comfort level is and I don’t know what the pain is.”

If Juhasz does play, it’s going to take her some time to get back into the swing of things. Dailey noted that Juhász might not be the same aggressive player once she’s back on the court because she’s still getting used to the splint.

But regardless of whether Juhász plays or not, the Huskies know a thing or two about dealing with injuries at this point. After all, they still found a way to get to the national title game last season. That experience gives them confidence moving forward.

“I don’t think there’s any space for being negative or being realistic honestly,” Mühl said. “I feel like we just have to be positive, we have to expect a lot more even now from the people that are here that are left to play. I feel like we still have a pretty good team. ... We’re prepared for situations like this. Although it’s hard to hear it out first, we’re ready. It’s nothing we don’t work at, it’s nothing we’re not prepared for. Stuff like that happens and we’re ready.”

What else to know

Site: Gampel Pavillion

Time: 7 p.m.

Series: This will be the first game between the two programs

TV: SNY; Allen Bestwick, Meghan Culmo and Maria Marino

Streaming: SNY app

Radio: UConn Sports Network on 97.9 ESPN