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Paige Bueckers Reveals What She Needs From Azzi Fudd Amid UConn NCAA Tournament Run

Paige Bueckers believes fellow UConn Huskies star Azzi Fudd will need to have this mentality if their team is to make a National Championship run.

Grant Young

Nov 4, 2023; Storrs, CT, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) and guard Azzi Fudd (35) warm up before the exhibition game against Southern Connecticut State University at Gampel Pavillion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Nov 4, 2023; Storrs, CT, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) and guard Azzi Fudd (35) warm up before the exhibition game against Southern Connecticut State University at Gampel Pavillion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team begins their 2025 NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 22, in an afternoon game against Arkansas State.

While anything can happen in March Madness, it's hard to imagine that UConn will have a hard time handling this first-round opponent — especially because the Huskies are fully healthy heading into this tournament.

The two most important players who are healthy are dynamic guard duo Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. One of these two stars has been absent in each of UConn's past two trips to the NCAA Tournament. In fact, the last time they played in a NCAA Tournament game together was the 2022 national championship game against South Carolina on April 3.

That was 1,084 days ago.

UConn spoke with the media on Friday. And at one point, Bueckers discussed the type of mentality she'll need from Fudd as this tournament progresses.

"I don't ever want her to defer," Bueckers said of Fudd, per a March 21 article from Maggie Vanoni of CT Insider. "I want her to think, 'I've got this.' We want her to be her best, aggressive self. Don't defer, don't necessarily look to pass, look to score and do it every time she touches the ball. That opens everything else up for our team."

UConn has been at their best season when Fudd is firing three-point shots at will, which is proven by her torching the South Carolina Gamecocks for 28 points including going 6-10 on three-point shots when these two championship contenders played on February 16.

If Fudd can find her shooting stroke consistently this tournament, the Huskies are going to be an extremely tough out.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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