{"id":291371,"date":"2026-05-13T15:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/291371\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:34:08","slug":"uconn-great-azzi-fudd-misses-dallas-wings-game-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/291371\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn great Azzi Fudd misses Dallas Wings’ game Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

While some thought the No. 1 pick in last month’s WNBA Draft would start, as she did in Dallas’ two preseason games, in her professional debut the Wings claimed all was well and they did receive strong play from their guards — including Paige Bueckers<\/a> and Arike Ogunbowale — in the 107-104 victory.<\/p>\n

But when Fudd showed up on Dallas’ injury report Tuesday as “probable” with a right knee issue for Wednesday’s home opener against the Atlanta Dream even more eyebrows were raised. It only became more intense after Fudd was ruled “out” about two hours before the 8 p.m. EDT opening tip. She watched in street clothes as the Dream topped the Wings 77-72.<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m not going to get into the minutes situation,” Dallas first-year coach Jose Fernandez said in his pregame press conference. “Out of an abundance of caution and for her long-term health we’re keeping her out tonight.<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to discuss anything medically in regards to her, what she has done in practice, what she hasn’t done in practice. She’s a big part of this team. There’s a reason why we drafted her No. 1, and she’s going to have a great season for the Wings.”<\/p>\n

Dallas’ three starting guards combined to play 91 minutes with Ogunbowale going 36 minutes, Bueckers 32 and Odyssey Sims 23. Ogunbowale finished with 20 points and Bueckers 15.<\/p>\n

The trio played 87 minutes against Indiana.<\/p>\n

“Next woman up,” Bueckers told the media pregame. “Obviously (Fudd) is a key piece for us with her being on the floor and her presence and what she brings offensively and defensively. It will be a test for our depth and what we have coming off the bench. Step up, don’t try to be Azzi but be the best version of yourself.”<\/p>\n

Aziaha James played 15 minutes and had six points but was 2-for-10 shooting from the floor and missed all five of her 3-point tries.<\/p>\n

Fudd, who hit a corner trey for her only points<\/a> against the Fever, tore the ACL in her right knee while playing in a USA Basketball 3×3 event in 2019 and after playing in only two games of the 2023-24 season at UConn.<\/p>\n

After playing only 42 games in her first three seasons in Storrs because of foot and knee injuries, the Arlington, Va., native played in 34 games in 2024-25 in a season that ended with her being the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four and UConn winning the national championship.<\/p>\n

She returned for her final year of eligibility and had her healthiest and best year of her college career. Fudd started all 39 games and averaged career-bests of 17.3 points, 3.1 assists and 2.7 steals along with 2.6 rebounds in 28.7 minutes. She shot 48.1 percent from the floor, 44.7 percent from 3-point land and 95.5 percent from the foul line.<\/p>\n

For her efforts, Fudd was a consensus first-team All-American to earn the right to be inducted into the Huskies of Honor program at Gampel Pavilion.<\/p>\n

On April 14, she became the seventh UConn player to be taken No. 1 in the WNBA Draft, joining Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011), Breanna Stewart (2016) and Bueckers (2025).<\/p>\n

The Wings host the Minnesota Lynx Thursday.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very long season and she just came off playing a long season,” Fernandez said. “We have to put her in positions to be successful.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While some thought the No. 1 pick in last month’s WNBA Draft would start, as she did in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[86570,86569,102,104,103],"class_list":["post-291371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-all-daily-sites","tag-ct-insider","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}