Throughout the 2024-25 season, one of the No. 7 UConn women’s basketball team’s key goals has been for Paige Bueckers to be aggressive early.
In their penultimate regular season game at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, graduate guard Azzi Fudd personally took on that assignment.
Fudd, three days removed from a 17-point third period at Amica Mutual Pavilion, took nine of the Huskies’ 17 first-quarter shots. The 5-foot-11 guard made five of them for 13 points, matching the St. John’s Red Storm in scoring across the opening 10 minutes.
Fudd ultimately outscored the Red Storm after three quarters with 34 points versus their 32. It helped set a new career high for the 2022 Big East All-Freshman Team guard as the Huskies smacked St. John’s 78-40 Wednesday night.
“Having Azzi do that makes the game very difficult for the other team,” head coach Geno Auriemma said about Fudd, who shot 13-22 from the floor and a ridiculous 8-14 from downtown, postgame. “She looked like she was on a personal quest to try to be impactful every time she touched the ball.”
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The one-time Big East Weekly Honor Roll selection’s crusade involved so much more than her relentless aggression, however.
“My teammates just kept setting great screens [and] finding me when I was open,” Fudd commented. “They honestly made it easy for me to be in that position to make all of those shots.”
Even Bueckers liked what she saw from her longtime companion.
“It almost felt like we were all just watching Azzi have a night. For her to be confident, be aggressive, it is what we all want from her,” the two-time Big East Player of the Year expressed. “It was amazing to watch as a teammate, as a person who believes in her, as we all do.”
While it was a “shooters shoot” night for Fudd, Bueckers turned into a five-tool player that would catch any baseball scout’s attention. The Class of 2020 No. 1 recruit supported the 2021 class’s top player with 16 points on 6-9 shooting, six rebounds and four assists.
Bueckers flirted with a triple-double, but she did it by looking like Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie in her prime in the paint. The 6-foot-0 guard tied her career high for blocks in one game (five) in one half and complemented it with two steals.
The Huskies had a -13 edge on the glass over their last two contests; they essentially canceled that deficit out in Storrs. Connecticut outrebounded the Red Storm 38-25 with a +12 advantage on the defensive glass. All three of the Huskies’ available frontcourt players significantly contributed to that number.
Naismith Trophy Midseason Team forward Sarah Strong scored just two points on 1-4 shooting in her 14th conference game. Despite her low offensive numbers, Strong snagged seven rebounds and collected three steals. 6-foot-5 center Jana El Alfy flirted with a double-double with seven points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes.
Redshirt senior Aubrey Griffin, meanwhile, provided the most offense out of all three individuals with 10 fourth-quarter points supporting her nine rebounds. Add in her two steals and three blocks, and Griffin contributed everywhere in her season-high 20 minutes.
UConn’s defense decimated another Big East Conference charter school. The Huskies rejected nine shots, forced 22 turnovers that became 35 points and had 14 steals. The Johnnies’ 40 points, 13 field goals and 25.5% clip from the floor were all season lows.
The Red Storm’s two leading scorers accounted for over half of their points. Miami transfer Lasahe Dwyer, who had just two points in the first meeting, dropped a team-high 11 with four rebounds and two three-pointers. Ber’Nyah Mayo had St. John’s other two buckets from behind the arc for 10 points while recording five assists.
All four of senior forward Phoenix Gedeon’s points gave the Red Storm their only lead of the night following Fudd’s game-opening jumper. The Virginia native took four of the Huskies’ first six shots, but it was El Alfy that permanently put the team ahead.
Even then, Fudd landed a driving layup and buried her first three-pointer before the Johnnies called their first timeout. That was the first of seven consecutive shots from behind the arc that both teams made over four minutes. It allowed the 2018 Next Sports Phenom Player of the Year to have as many points (13) as the Red Storm did.
Fudd buried three triples in that first quarter, but she did not make either of her long-range attempts in the second. Her silence in that frame allowed other players to get involved; everyone who played in that period but Griffin scored at least two points.
But with that well-balanced offense came a stifling defense from the Huskies. St. John’s scored just seven points on 3-13 shooting and committed five turnovers in the period. UConn turned those giveaways into nine points, and even with Jayda Brown’s late three-pointer, had a 25-point advantage at halftime.
The Red Storm battled with the Huskies over the first four minutes of the second half, but the 22-year-old guard became too much. As she did three days ago in Rhode Island’s state capital, Fudd outscored her opponent in the third quarter. The 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup gold medalist dropped 17 points and buried five triples on six tries. St. John’s, meanwhile, did not score in the period’s final 5:53.
Rather than sit on the bench with Connecticut’s two leading scorers, Fudd started the fourth quarter out on the court. The three-time Gatorade Washington, D.C., Player of the Year took one more shot attempt, a missed three-pointer, before checking out. The New York native recorded all 10 of the Huskies’ points in the final frame to secure their 34th consecutive conference win.
UConn commences a three-game road trip that caps off their regular season slate away from home. It starts on Sunday with a clash against the defending champion No. 4 South Carolina Gamecocks. Tip-off from Colonial Life Arena in Columbia is at 1 p.m. on ABC.
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