Fudd’s 25 points guides No. 1 UConn Women’s Hoops’ decimation of DePaul
A devastating trap could have been placed inside Wintrust Arena for the No. 1 UConn Women’s Basketball team.
The Huskies went from taking on a ranked opponent to a DePaul Blue Demons program possessing a 2-11 Big East Conference record.
But still riding the coattails of their dominant second half against the then-No. 15 Tennessee Lady Volunteers, UConn rolled across the snare. All they essentially needed to avoid being lured in was another stellar performance from one of their veterans.
Azzi Fudd scored 25 points and made four of her six threes as the Huskies clubbed the Blue Demons 86-40. Wednesday evening marked the second straight contest where Fudd led the team in scoring and buried 4+ triples.
Remove the graduate guard, and Connecticut amassed just 59 points. Perhaps it might be fair to assume the offense faced a little scare in Chicago. After all, the Huskies dropped 92+ points in each of their last three games.
Yet UConn made 13 of their 15 shots in the first quarter and finished 60.7% from the floor. Only in their previous meeting with DePaul back in December did the Huskies shoot better as a team (63.5%).
KK Arnold had the best individual mark. Arnold shot 6-7 attempting just twos for all 12 of her points while dishing out six assists. Defensively, the junior point guard from Wisconsin matched Fudd with three steals and had half of Connecticut’s four rejections.
Sarah Strong added to her incredible birthday month, which already includes a SLAM magazine cover appearance. With future Basketball Hall of Famer Candace Parker on the call, Strong posted 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. The preseason Big East Player of the Year pulled that, as well as a 6-9 clip, off while playing just half the game.
Big East Player of the Week Allie Ziebell did not make a three-pointer but racked up five rebounds and nine points off the bench. Ashlynn Shade had eight points, four boards and four assists while Kayleigh Heckel had six points and six dimes.
As for the defense, the Huskies held the Blue Demons to their second fewest points, rebounds (25) and assists (nine) in a game. DePaul, who scored no more than 11 points in any quarter, shot just 27.8% as a team.
Morehead State transfer Kate Novik again led the Blue Demons in nearly everything with 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. Graduate forward Michelle Ojo matched Novik in points and takeaways while shooting 3-6 from the field. Devin Hagemann and Aizhanique Mayo each made two threes for six points.
The only thing that slowed down UConn, whom DePaul head coach Jill Pizzotti praised postgame as a “really fun team to watch?” Cutting into the post too much. Approximately seven of the 10 turnovers the team committed, including an illegal screen foul, came on backfired risky passes.
Such was the case on the Huskies’ first giveaway of the game, a pass into the post from Arnold intended for Strong. That came 35 seconds after Fudd turned a DePaul rebound into the contest’s first points.
Connecticut committed that same mistake once more between that first bucket and their next miss. The Huskies rattled off nine more consecutive makes, helping stretch their lead up to 16. After Hagemann canned the Blue Demon’s first three-pointer, UConn broke out on a 22-2 run.
The Huskies’ latest Final Four Most Outstanding Player swiftly answered the sophomore Detroit native and Shade followed with a triple. Heckel scored following the media timeout before Fudd knocked down consecutive treys. UConn attacked the basket more after their shooting streak ended, scoring their last nine points off four layups.
Novik, who had DePaul’s lone points in that six-minute run, had the final say in the opening period. The junior guard grabbed a missed three, charged toward the lane and made the contested floater before the buzzer.
Even with a slower second quarter, the Blue Demons carried their offensive momentum over. Ojo landed a layup and Mayo rattled a triple two possessions later. The Huskies’ starting forwards from the 2025 national title game countered with a 5-0 run that brought the lead over 20 for good.
A stalemate followed, with both teams struggling to make shots and committing fouls. Buckets from Connecticut’s returning All-Big East players accounted for the lone offense in a four-minute window.
Geno Auriemma decided to challenge the possession on a rebound that went out of bounds following Heckel’s missed three. A day removed from Dan Hurley’s unsuccessful challenge in Hartford, Auriemma had his first failed appeal of the season.
Connecticut responded with back-to-back layups from Ziebell and Serah Williams off deadball DePaul turnovers. Similar to the previous quarter, Natiah Nelson buried a jumper right before the buzzer. Even with the basket, the Huskies still sported a 44-20 halftime lead.
Other than adjusting their passes to the inside, a 24-point advantage did not warrant a need to make necessary changes. Instead, UConn came out with their first 13 points being scored between Fudd and Strong. The former had two threes and a layup while the latter had two floaters.
Incorporate Ziebell’s three-point play, and the Huskies opened the second half on a 15-5 run. Shade’s second bucket from the perimeter, which came a minute after Mayo’s, helped make it a 35-point game through three quarters.
Arnold accounted for the opening six points of the final frame as the Blue Demons burned their third timeout. Meg Newman ended the run with a pullup jumper and Alayna West turned a Jana El Alfy rejection into a right-handed floater.
El Alfy quickly countered with a spin move and a layup while drawing the foul. Two more driving layups followed that permanently put Connecticut up over 40. Ayanna Patterson and Kelis Fisher each got on the board as the Huskies won their 40th consecutive contest.
UConn next heads back to Hartford for a bout with the Butler Bulldogs. Tip-off Saturday from PeoplesBank Arena is at high noon on FS1.
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