World-class uccon women’s basketball player, she will be stepping down due to her injury report.
Azzi Fudd’s knee injury, which ended his season, is simply the most recent setback to the Huskies players. On November 14, during practice, the junior guard tore her right knee’s meniscus and ACL. Furthermore, Jana El Alfy, who tore her Achilles tendon in July, and Ayanna Patterson, who is currently out following an offseason knee surgery, are the other two players on the sidelines for UConn.
When Fudd got hurt, WNBA player Diamond DeShields questioned on social media, saying, “Who’s the strength coach there? Because WTF. Fudd’s father, however, defended the program, stating that the injuries are “the flukiest things I’ve ever seen” and have “nothing to do with the strength coach.”
Due to a back ailment, Aubrey Griffin missed the entire season; in January 2022, she had surgery.
Fudd’s foot injury on December 1 kept her out of the starting lineup for 11 games. Fudd had already had an ACL and MCL tear in her right knee during her high school career, but this was the first serious injury of her time at UConn. The premier player for UConn, Paige Bueckers, sustained a tibial plateau fracture just four days later, which prevented her from playing in 19 games for the Huskies.
Even so, the team’s health held steady in January and February. However, Dorka Juhász suffered a wrist fracture in the Elite Eight of the postseason, preventing her from making it to the Final Four. In the national championship game, UConn was defeated by south carolina.
One example from the 2022–2023 season best captures UConn’s injury woes: a shortage of healthy players forced the Huskies to postpone their game versus DePaul in early January.
Bueckers suffered an ACL tear in August, which kept her out of the game for the whole season. Then, her season was cut short before it began in October when rookie Ice Brady dislocated her patella tendon.
Juhász injured her thumb on November 19, just months after breaking her wrist, preventing her from playing in seven games. Fudd then sustained a knee injury on December 4 that initially prevented her from playing in nine games. After returning in January, she re-injured her knee on January 15 and missed and aditional 13 games.
