No. 1 UConn Women’s Hoops sinks Providence on Senior Day with relentless defense
Azzi Fudd’s five years at UConn have been nothing short of a wild adventure.
Big East All-Freshman Team honors, two knee injuries, Final Four Most Outstanding Player, a pursuit of a 50/40/90 season.
Quite a handful of ups and downs for a former No. 1 recruit.
So perhaps Fudd’s final regular-season game at Gampel Pavilion was an almost identical reproduction of her collegiate career.
It started with an intense roar during the starting lineups reminiscent of her hype out of high school. A 1-8 first-half shooting swoon, the one make being the No. 1 UConn Women’s basketball team’s first field goal, followed.
Yet the reigning Big East Player of the Week bounced back with an impressive second half. While not perfect, Fudd stepped up like she has countless times before over the past two seasons.
The graduate guard finished with 13 points, and the Huskies rode a sound defensive performance to an 81-38 pummeling of the Providence Friars.
Fudd headlined a homegrown senior class that had experienced endless adversity. Caroline Ducharme, Ice Brady and Ayanna Patterson, alongside the Virginia native, each suffered at least one season-ending injury.
“We have been through so much together,” the 2025 All-Big East First Team guard commented. “To see where we are now and how much we have grown, and whatever that looks like for each individual person, I just think it is so special.”
Serah Williams, Patterson, Ducharme and Fudd all got the start on Sunday afternoon. That relegated Sarah Strong and Ashlynn Shade to the sidelines at tip-off.
2.5 minutes elapsed before the Big East Preseason Player of the Year first checked in. Coming off the bench did not shake Strong, who made her first four shots for nine points. The 2024 McDonald’s All-American Game co-MVP played four more minutes after that and also dropped 13 points.
Shade, meanwhile, played like a lockdown cornerback: intercepting passes, chasing after missed shots and disrupting game plans. The reigning Big East Sixth Player of the Year complemented her tenacious defense with 10 points and two threes.
Sunday also became a career day for KK Arnold (eight points) and Jana El Alfy (six). Eight days removed from a nine-assist outing in her home state, Arnold broke her own mark with 10 dimes. The 5-foot-9 junior guard also matched a mark she set two years ago with eight takeaways. El Alfy shattered her previous high in rebounds, snagging 16 in 18 minutes.
Allie Ziebell buried three triples and a layup for 11 points with two blocks. Kayleigh Heckel and Blanca Quiñonez rounded out the primary scoring contributors with 15 combined points while notching four dimes apiece.
Connecticut shot 43.8% from the field, their worst mark in league play, despite making ten three-pointers. But rather than using their offense to pull away, the Huskies utilized a suffocating defense.
No stretch highlighted the defense they exerted on Providence more than a 3.5-minute window in the first quarter. UConn forced a turnover on not one, not two, but eight straight Friars’ possessions. Six of those eight giveaways came without a stoppage in play.
The Huskies ultimately forced a season-high 39 turnovers (matching the program’s single-game record) with 26 steals. UConn did not allow more than five field goals in any quarter, did not surrender a second-chance point and rejected six shots.
“Our pressure was really really good. We used it the right way,” head coach Geno Auriemma said postgame. “We made Providence play way faster than they play.”
Amidst the relentless and aggressive defense they faced, Providence posted as many points as they did behind their perimeter play. The Friars made eight shots from downtown, six of which came in the second half.
Princess Moody had three of those treys and recorded a team-high 11 points. Virginia transfer Payton Dunbar also knocked down three for all nine of her points. Oragh Gormley collected six rebounds and four assists along with her five points while leading scorer Sabou Gueye dropped just four.
Fitting for Senior Day, Patterson scored the Huskies’ first point in her first career start. Nearly three minutes passed before Fudd drove to the lane for Connecticut’s first field goal.
The Huskies’ defensive intensity ramped up immensely after that floater. UConn forced a live-ball turnover on five consecutive Providence possessions. The Friars’ giveaway streak ultimately reached eight, and the Huskies turned them into nine points.
All but five of Connecticut’s first 18 points, all unanswered, came off turnovers. Sophi Hall and Shade each knocked down triples in the period’s final minute, resulting in a 21-5 Huskies advantage.
UConn cooled down not long after their second double-digit run. The Huskies closed the first half making just one of their final 10 shots. Providence mustered just five points in that span, giving Connecticut a 40-14 halftime lead.
Almost like the first quarter, the Friars scored the second half’s first points and Fudd recorded the Huskies’ first field goal. Strong subsequently poked the ball out of Gormley’s hands, then made the layup that forced Providence’s first timeout. That stoppage did not halt UConn’s hot offensive hand. Behind Heckel, the home team converted seven of its final nine shots for a 41-point advantage.
El Alfy, who already had nine rebounds, got more involved offensively as the fourth period wore on. The 6-foot-5 Egyptian native scored the Huskies’ first four points and her second field goal yielded a third Friars timeout.
Connecticut’s two longest-tenured players had the team’s next three field goals, then exited to standing ovations with 3:36 remaining. Kelis Fisher added one more scoop-and-score as the Huskies matched their single-season record for conference victories.
Injuries have limited Patterson, the 2022 Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year, to just 47 games. That did not stop the redshirt sophomore from having a memorable senior day experience. Patterson made her first career start and spoke with the press after the game.
Right as her time on the podium ended, however, Fudd had one final comment.
“[Ayanna] is one of the hardest workers on our team every single day in practice, in the weight room, no matter where it is. … No matter how many minutes she gets, she comes in and gives her all,” the 2025 Final Four Most Outstanding Player remarked. “She is one of the best teammates to play with because you know she is going to run through a wall for you.
UConn’s regular-season slate in Storrs is complete, but they still have one more game in Hartford on Thursday night. Tip-off against the Georgetown Hoyas from PeoplesBank Arena is at 7 p.m. on TNT.
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