Bueckers, Fudd looking to make up for lost time after injury-filled careers

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Before they had played a second of high school basketball, a friendship was blossoming between Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers.

When Fudd signed her National Letter of Intent to join Bueckers at 11-time national champion UConn, the two sweet-shooting guards figured to become the latest dynamic duo for the Huskies.

Things haven't quite worked out as expected. Injuries to both players resulted in them playing in only 28 of 131 possible games together. Both Fudd and Bueckers had to overcome serious injuries that had them spend more time together in the training room than on the court.

Both players have also missed time this season.

Bueckers is averaging 19.4 points and 3.9 assists in 17 games for the sixth-ranked Huskies. Fudd is averaging 11.5 points in the 13 games she has appeared in heading into Wednesday's matchup against Villanova.

Bueckers made history in Sunday's win over Seton Hall by scoring her 2,000th career point. It took her just 102 games to reach that milestone, breaking the program record of 108 games set by Maya Moore. Bueckers and Fudd each had 18 points in the 96-36 victory.

That was pretty much what they had in mind when the duo first thought of playing together in college. It was a relationship that formed in 2017 when they helped the United States win the gold medal at the FIBA U16 AmericaCup tournament in Argentina.

“I was trying out for the point guard position and so was she,” Fudd said. “I can’t remember if we were on the same team or opposite teams but they already made a few cuts and we were getting down to who the actual 12 were going to be and I remember thinking, ‘This little white girl has nothing on me. I don’t have to worry about her, I will make the next cut over her.’”

Bueckers could only laugh when hearing about Fudd's recollections.

“It sounds like she was more worried about me," Bueckers said. "I don’t even remember her in trials. We were on the same team but I didn’t even realize we were fighting for the same position, I was just trying to make the team. As we made the team, we were the first and second people off the bench and just bonded, we played extremely well off each other and it just grew as the years have gone by."

This season began with Fudd working her way back from a knee injury that limited her to two games during the 2023-24 season. She missed more time in December. When she returned, Bueckers was sidelined for a pair of games.

Now the duo is looking to make up for lost time.

“Obviously the past hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to but we can’t change that for the future,” Bueckers said. “Our ability to help each other stay in the present, take nothing for granted and take advantage of what we have now, I think we are doing a great job of that.”

Bueckers was the top-rated recruit in the Class of 2020 out of Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota. A year later, Fudd received the same honor as she wrapped up a brilliant career at St. John's College High School in the Washington, D.C., area.

Bueckers and Fudd were on the court for only 15 of 36 games during the 2021-22 season as they helped the Huskies reach the national championship game. The next two seasons, they were on the court together just twice out of 76 games.

With Bueckers missing the entire 2022-23 season and Fudd suffering a pair of season-ending injuries, there has been more adversity to deal with than either of them could have imagined.

“I think both of us have gone through similar stuff,” Fudd said. “Watching her go through her injury while I was playing kind of motivated me to fill her shoes of what she was doing while she was out. When I got hurt the following year, having seen her go through her entire rehab process that really inspired me last year when I went through my rehab process.”

Bueckers and Fudd found that they shared so many similar traits before either arrived at UConn. That bond has only been strengthened as both have had to endure grueling rehabs.

“I feel like we have relied on each other just for strength,” Bueckers said. “Seeing each other go through it, just being able to motivate each other and to be there on the good days and the bad. When you need a pep talk, when you need to talk when you are sad, we are there for each other to support each other in any way possible.”

Bueckers is in the midst of a season that has her in the national player of the year conversation. It has been more of a grind for Fudd. She is starting to come around, averaging 18.8 points over her past four games.

“I am still getting back into the flow of the offense and connecting with everyone on the court," Fudd said. "I'm just reminding myself that mentally I am going to go in with confidence and being OK with seeing the ball rattle out and knowing that I am controlling everything that I can defensively with my intensity.”

Fudd plays with a quiet confidence. She has put in the work to get back on the court and the next step is to regain her shooting touch.

“It is always a threat when she is in the game that she might go 4-for-4 in a spurt and put the game away,” UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said. “It will come but it is going to take a little bit of time, I think.”

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