“I would go to church with Paige Bueckers and Ice Brady”: Azzi Fudd gets 100% real about how faith helped her through “a low point”

UConn guard Azzi Fudd shared how her faith became a key part of her recovery during one of the toughest stretches of her college career. Fudd found herself in a low place following a knee sprain during the win over Louisville on December 7.

While she has dealt with worse injuries that kept her out for a long time, the mental weight of dealing with another one shortly after was too much.

“Not that I hit rock bottom, but I was at a low point,” she said via CT Insider.

It was during this difficult period that teammates Paige Bueckers and Ice Brady stepped in. Both also dealt with injury setbacks, but Fudd noticed something different about them.

“They carried themselves lighter,” she said, which made her curious about the role their faith played in that peace. “I would go to church with Paige and Ice,” Fudd added. “But I wasn't like giving it that extra, like in basketball, you can go to workouts, but you're not going to get better if you don't put any extra work in yourself. So, that's what it was with my relationship with God.”

It all started to change when Bueckers gave Fudd one of her old devotionals. Fudd began praying on her own, opening herself up to faith and slowly trusting in something bigger than herself.

Even though she had class during Athletes in Action meetings, which was the student-athlete ministry group at UConn, her teammates would bring back Bible study notes to keep her included.

Eventually, the team created their own Bible study, something Fudd called “incredible,” and it gave her a new kind of strength.

“Just being able to really understand, you know, I'm not doing this alone,” she said. “To have God in my life… and just know that He's always there supporting me — I feel like that was huge.”

Fudd bounced back and had a great campaign in 2024-25, averaging 13.6 points per game in 34 appearances. Now, she is ready to lead the team in the final year of eligibility.

Azzi Fudd ready to find her own style of leadership

Azzi Fudd is the leader of the UConn team next season following the departure of Paige Bueckers and other seniors. There are questions around how she will handle the pressure, but that is not the focus for Fudd, who is more concerned about discovering her own unique leadership style.

“I don’t think I see it as pressure on me. I see it more as a challenge,” Fudd said during an interview with CT Insider. “To find who Azzi is as a leader, that’s gonna be my challenge.”

The Huskies are looking to defend the national championship, and Fudd’s leadership and experience will play a huge role in achieving that.

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Edited by Krutik Jain