Geno Auriemma’s “perfect basketball player” is on the mend again. UConn is struggling with wins lately as Paige Bueckers gets handed the load of performing. Their big game against Notre Dame ended in disappointment as Hannah Hidalgo and Co. outplayed them. To make matters worse, Azzi Fudd had been out for the night with a knee sprain. And she doesn’t look ready to play tonight against the Georgetown Hoyas I their Big East opener either.

UConn insider Daniel Connolly just posted on X, “Azzi Fudd isn’t warming up with the team pregame, safe to assume she’s out for today’s game.” Coach Auriemma had said on Wednesday that the senior would likely be out for the week, but even if it’s now Sunday she might be taking another leave of absence to properly heal. No update has been given from the team yet.

But it’s an interesting development for Fudd, who missed all of last year due to injury and did not begin the current season with the Huskies. When she finally did, it was expected that the redshirt senior would be healthy enough to continue the season in full; however, her right knee sprain sustained in the third quarter of the Huskies’ 85-52 victory over Louisville proved otherwise.

Fortunately for UConn fans, it’s not as bad as what they have gone through with Fudd’s previous record, sadly in the same knee. “It’s probably the first good news I’ve ever gotten from Dr. Coyner (UConn’s Orthopedic Physician). She was so excited she couldn’t wait to tell me,” said Auriemma.

“I sat down next to her on the bench, and I told her, ‘This is not going to go the way it’s gone in the past.’ Nobody wants to miss time, nobody wants to miss games. But given the alternative, I think she’s pretty pleased.”

While it was a sad loss Uconn experienced against Notre Dame without Fudd, the first of the season, fans can probably expect to see her soon back healthy and take revenge on the Fighting Irish. In the last game, Paige Bueckers seemed to be holding up the team as they choked against the big rival.

But Bueckers, who called Fudd’s injury “frustrating”, also said that it’s only “a minor setback” because she is going to be back again soon. Auriemma, for his part, is a huge Azzi Fudd fan.

Geno Auriemma can’t believe “all this stuff keeps happening to her (Azzi Fudd)”

After Azzi Fudd landed awkwardly off a layup in practice last year on Nov. 14, an ACL and medial meniscal tear was not anything the UConn Huskies were ready to deal with. The guard spent the entire season, after playing just two games, and the offseason recovering. Even Steph Curry lent a hand as his team worked with Fudd, who finally returned to the court in Nov. 2024, scored four points, had one steal and one rebound in 13 minutes in her first game in over 370 days, per CT Insider.

Which is why Geno Auriemma said of her on the UConn Radio Network a few days ago, “She is one of the best-conditioned athletes we’ve had at UConn. That’s why it’s crazy that all this stuff keeps happening to her. But she’s just so incredibly well put together for a basketball player. Like, if you were going to build the perfect basketball player, that’s what it would look like.”

Despite all these setbacks, Azzi Fudd performs at a high level whenever she does get to be on the court, and as her mom Katie puts it, it’s the mental fortitude and persistence that not everyone is able to have. Now that she’s day-to-day, fans might expect to see her on Wednesday against Iowa State.