STORRS, Conn. (AP) — UConn guard Azzi Fudd sat out No. 8 UConn’s 80-48 win over No. 20 Maryland on Thursday with a knee injury she sustained earlier in the week during practice.
The junior, who has had an injury-plagued career, averaged 11 points in the Huskies’ other two games this season, a win over Dayton and a loss to No. 14 North Carolina State.
Coach Geno Auriemma said Fudd suffered a non-contact injury on Tuesday after coming down from a shot in practice.
“She gets the ball, dribbles, stops, shoots it and says, ‘Hmm, that felt funny’ and off to the training room,” he said.
Auriemma said Fudd still has some swelling and the team will know more about the extent of her injury once she is able to have an MRI and other medical tests. The school declined to say which knee was injured.
Fudd, a former national high school player of the year, tore the ACL and MCL in her right knee while in high school. She also missed 10 games with a foot injury during her freshman season and 22 games because of knee injuries during her sophomore campaign.
Fudd’s injury comes after the return of another UConn star, Paige Bueckers, who missed all of last season and 19 games during her sophomore campaign with knee injuries.
UConn’s starters during the first two games of the season, all upperclassmen, had played just 14 games together before this season because of various injuries.
Aubrey Griffin started in place of Fudd and finished the game with nine points and 13 rebounds.
“There’s always something that we have to deal with,” Auriemma said. “Sometimes it’s minor. This one might be minor. Sometimes it’s minor. Sometimes it’s major. But it seems like we’ve always handled it really, really, really well.”
Fudd has averaged 13.1 points in the 42 games she has played for UConn.
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