Azzi Fudd out again after knee injury, no timetable for return

Azzi Fudd re-injured her right knee in UConn women’s basketball’s win over Georgetown on Sunday and will be sidelined for an unspecified period of time, the team announced on Friday.

Fudd was seen at practice with a knee brace and crutches on Friday, though Geno Auriemma said it’s simply a precautionary measure.

“I wouldn’t put too much stock in that brace,” he explained. “That’s more just to keep the weight off and keep to give it the best chance to heal.”

The silver lining is that Fudd did not tear any ligaments and will not need surgery. It’ll just be a matter of how it feels going forward. Even though there’s no specific timeline, Fudd will have no weight bearing on it for at least two weeks — roughly the first week of February.

After that...

“We’ll see what the next thing is,” Auriemma said.

Fudd originally hurt that knee on Dec. 4 at Notre Dame when Aaliyah Edwards fell into it. She missed eight games and returned on Jan. 15 at St. John’s. The next game after that, a Georgetown player awkwardly bumped into Fudd and the sophomore quickly left the game, went into the locker room, and did not return. She did not travel with the team to Seton Hall on Tuesday to undergo further testing.

UConn could be getting some help for its upcoming matchup against Butler, though. Ayanna Patterson (concussion protocol) has returned to practice in a non-contact capacity but will be a game-time decision on Saturday.

“Tomorrow we’ll know at shoot around if ‘Yanna is gonna go,” Auriemma said.

If she does play, that’ll give the Huskies eight available players.

As for Caroline Ducharme, there’s no definitive update on her status. The sophomore guard has missed the last five games while in concussion protocol. Inês Bettencourt dealt with a non-COVID illness but returned to practice on Friday and will be available to play on Saturday.

Tip-off between UConn and Butler is set for Saturday at noon from Gampel Pavilion.