STORRS, Conn. — The UConn women’s basketball team will once again be without one of its star players.
The university announced Friday that sophomore Azzi Fudd will be out for the foreseeable future after reinjuring her right knee while battling for rebounding position in the first half of the Huskies’ game against Georgetown on Jan. 15.
No timeline has been released for Fudd’s return to play.
This is the second time this season that Fudd has missed playing time after missing eight games with an injury to the same right knee. The Huskies’ game against Georgetown was just her second game back.
It comes a week after injuries forced the fifth-ranked Huskies to postpone a game with DePaul because it didn’t have enough healthy players available.
This season, just two players have been available for every game.
“We’ve tried holy water. We’ve tried sage burning. None of them seem to work,” Associate head coach Chris Dailey said after a win over Xavier. “It’s just something we have to deal with. Whoever we have, we feel like we have enough.”
Former national player of the year Paige Bueckers, who missed most of 2021-22 with a knee injury, and freshman Ice Brady both suffered serious knee injuries in the preseason. Two other players are sidelined with concussions. Other players have missed time with foot and hand injuries.
“What kind of exercises do you do in the weight room to make sure you don’t get a concussion?" coach Geno Auriemma said. “There’s nothing, you know. What do you do to make sure that your teammate doesn’t push a kid into you, a teammate knocks you on on the ground and you hit your head or where you catch your thumb and a kid shirt and break your thumb in the first first game of the year? So some of these are just weird.”
Auriemma said coaches have already cut back on the length, number and intensity of practices on the advice of medical staff, sometimes to the detriment of play. He said he is learning to be more patient when it comes to injuries.
UConn guard Nika Mühl, who missed time last year with a concussion, said that's the hardest part for everyone involved.
“We see everybody playing every day you just want to get out there already but you have to go through the protocol,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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