UNCASVILLE — After leading No. 6 Michigan by as many as 20 points early in the third quarter on Friday night, the No. 1 UConn women’s basketball team suddenly found itself on the ropes at the start of the fourth with a meager two-point lead.
The team had gone nearly eight minutes without points, and it felt like all of the momentum was building in favor of the Wolverines.
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But then, when the Huskies needed it most, Azzi Fudd finally took over to lead them to a 72-69 victory at Mohegan Sun Arena in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase.
The redshirt senior superstar ended the Huskies’ scoring drought with a 3-pointer that didn’t touch the rim 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, then swished another off an assist from junior KK Arnold with a split-second release. Fudd added a third for a solo 9-0 run, breaking open an 11-point lead for the Huskies in less than five minutes.
Fudd scored 13 points in the fourth alone to finish with a season-high 31 shooting 7-for-12 on 3-pointers, also adding five rebounds and two steals.
“I think the only thing that was on my mind was to be aggressive,” Fudd said. “I knew we needed to get a bucket … and you’ve got to be aggressive and be willing to take those shots. So yeah, being aggressive, and then my teammates were giving me great looks.”
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UConn was also kept afloat by another dominant showing from Sarah Strong. The sophomore phenom had her third double-double of the season by halftime, finishing with 16 points plus a career-high 20 rebounds, six assists, three steals and four blocks. She played all 40 minutes in the win.
Michigan star Syla Swords almost single-handedly powered the Wolverines back into the game after the Huskies entered halftime ahead, 45-27. The sophomore guard dropped 21 points in the second half to finish with 29, and she was spectacular in the clutch cutting the Huskies’ lead back to a single possession multiple times in the final minute of the game. Sophomore guard Olivia Olson also added 18 points, 10 boards and three steals for Michigan.
“We rely on (Sarah) and Azzi an awful lot in games like this,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “It was Michigan’s two guys against our two guys, and our two guys came out a little bit ahead.”
The Huskies got out to an impressive start, dictating the pace almost immediately in the opening quarter. The Wolverines gave up five turnovers in the first, and they struggled to find any rhythm offensively through UConn’s stifling press shooting just 10% from the field. The Huskies held the Michigan scoreless for five minutes after Swords scored her team’s first points on a 3-pointer, and they went on a 17-2 run to end the quarter up 21-5.
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Junior guard Ashlynn Shade set the tone for UConn’s offense early, draining a pair of 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game after entering the matchup averaging just 20% beyond the arc. The Huskies settled into a flow quickly with seven assists on eight made field goals in the opening quarter, and they were less reliant on their defense to generate offense with just five points off turnovers.
Fudd caught fire for the first time in the second quarter, shooting 3-for-5 from 3-point range to enter halftime with 18 points. The Huskies had six different scorers in the first half with 28 combined points from Fudd and Strong, and the team had just two unassisted field goals as it headed to the locker room with an 18-point lead.
But UConn came into the second half cold, shooting a dismal 13.3% from the field as a team for just four points in the third. The Wolverines turned up their defensive pressure forcing six of the Huskies’ 17 turnovers in the game, and UConn went scoreless for the final six minutes and 19 seconds of the quarter while Michigan went on an 13-0 run.
“No one at halftime thought that the final score was going to be 90-40,” Auriemma said. “They made us go slower in the second half, and we became tentative … The shots we had in the first half that we were willing to take, some guys were a little bit hesitant. The next thing you know, against a really good team, if they get enough opportunities they’re going to convert on them.”
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Fudd’s dominant stretch in the final quarter pushed UConn back to a double-digit lead, and Arnold extended it by hitting a 3-pointer with three and a half minutes left to play after starting 0-for-4. Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico described that clutch bucket as “the crushing blow,” but the Wolverines put up a fight until the final buzzer. They cut the Huskies’ lead down to a single point when Swords launched a 3-pointer from beyond NBA range at the end of the shot clock with 13 seconds left. Fudd sank a pair of free throws to make it a 3-point game again, and a steal by Arnold in the final second took enough time off the clock to keep Michigan from getting a final possession off.
“We needed to focus, because it felt like we weren’t focused on defense (in the third), but really to settle,” Fudd said. “We always have trust in each other no matter what’s going on in the game, so we were just reminding each other stay calm, we got this. Like it’s time. It’s time to go.”
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