For the first time in her college career, UConn women’s basketball star Azzi Fudd can officially call herself one of the best shooting guards in the country.
Fudd was named one of five finalists for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award on Tuesday, one of five positional awards given annually by the Basketball Hall of Fame to the nation’s top shooting guard. Fudd was selected to the preseason watchlist for the award in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2024-25, but injuries kept her from making the cut as a finalist.
Advertisement
In 2025-26, Fudd is having the best and healthiest year of her career. The redshirt senior hasn’t missed a single game amid UConn’s 34-0 season and helped lead the Huskies to their sixth consecutive Big East Tournament championship on Monday night. Fudd averages 17.7 points, three assists and 2.5 steals per game, all of which are career highs, and she is on the verge of 50/40/90 shooting splits currently hitting 48.9% from the field, 44.6% from 3-point range and 95.1% at the free throw line. Her 3-point percentage ranks seventh nationally and is the highest of any player with at least 90 makes from beyond the arc.
Dom Amore: Older, wiser, Azzi Fudd wasn’t taking last confetti cascade at Mohegan Sun for granted
On top of her offensive production, Fudd ranks fourth nationally in defensive win shares and 10th in defensive rating. The redshirt senior made the midseason watchlists for the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award, and she is also a finalist for the AAU Sullivan Award.
USC superstar JuJu Watkins won the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award the past two seasons, but she is not competing in 2025-26 after suffering an ACL tear during the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson and South Carolina’s Ta’Niya Latson were finalists in 2024-25 and are back in the top 5 this season alongside Fudd and UCLA’s Gianna Kneepkens.
Advertisement
Fudd would be the second UConn player to win the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award after Christyn Williams earned the honor in 2022. Former Huskies star Paige Bueckers, who won the 2025 Nancy Lieberman Award for the nation’s best point guard, was a finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale in 2023-24.
Sign up here to get UConn sports news straight to your inbox: UConn Alerts
