UConn Huskies senior guard Azzi Fudd is preparing for a season in which Paige Bueckers won’t be around. Fudd is set to take a bigger role on the team after Bueckers left for the WNBA.
While she’s bracing to lead the defending national champions, Fudd doesn’t think she’ll have the same approach Bueckers had when it came to leadership. After playing only two games in the 2023-24 season, she rebounded last year, playing 34 games and averaging 13.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
She helped Bueckers and Co. return to the national championship game and win it against Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks. Fudd faces a different challenge now, but she’s not running away from it.
Azzi Fudd on how different a leader she’ll be compared to Paige Bueckers
With Paige Bueckers out of the picture, Azzi Fudd was the natural pick to succeed the guard as the team’s leader. Fudd made it clear she felt no pressure with this new role and is welcoming it with open arms.
Azzi Fudd
“I don’t think I see it as pressure on me,” Fudd said via CT Insider. “I see it more as a challenge. Maybe that’s because I like challenges, and to think of it as pressure, then it becomes a little bit more heavy.”
Moreover, she outlined her approach to this role, distinguishing herself from Bueckers and Nika Muhl.
“I’m not gonna be like how Paige was a leader, how Nika (Mühl) was as a leader,” Fudd said. “I’m not gonna be super loud. I don’t think that’s in me to be like that. So, to find, like, who Azzi is as a leader, that’s gonna be my challenge.”
Fudd inherited a major responsibility, but she’s more than ready to take it on.
