Playing for UConn, Azzi Fudd always wondered if she had what it takes to get her name up on the rafters at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. It’s not a distant dream anymore, as Fudd became just the 25th player in UConn history to be inducted into the Huskies of Honor on Sunday. An emotional Fudd wasted no time in sharing her thoughts on the occasion as her No. 35 jersey went up the rafters.

“Of course, there’s nerves. I really don’t want to cry. I feel like I might, maybe a couple of tears might come out- but mostly excitement, mostly a lot of gratitude and appreciation for this place. It’s gonna be so weird to be sitting in the stands at Gampel and not on that bench,” Fudd said.

For the ceremony, Fudd was presented with a Huskies of Honor varsity jacket and a bouquet. During her induction speech, she formally thanked the UConn coaching staff, the fanbase, and her former teammates. Before the ceremony, she was still finding it hard to come to terms with this achievement.

“It’s crazy,” said Fudd before her ceremony. “… It just feels very surreal. It feels very insane. I am incredibly grateful. And yeah, I mean, even just seeing that (2025) championship banner up there, my name up there, I still get goosebumps. I still get emotional looking at that and seeing my name up there. So, to see my name in Gampel, I don’t even know what I’m gonna feel.”

Entering the program in 2021 as the No. 1 overall recruit, Fudd’s early collegiate tenure was marked by significant time off the court due to injuries. Her presence was limited by a freshman-year foot injury, a sophomore-year knee injury, and a junior-year ACL and medial meniscal tear that kept her out for nearly the entire season.

Fudd played her first season with good health and fitness in 2024-25, marking the first time she and Paige Bueckers were simultaneously available in the UConn rotation. Competing alongside then-freshman Sarah Strong, they directed the Huskies to the 2025 national championship. Fudd earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors, averaging 21.5 points, 3.0 steals, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game during the tournament’s final weekend (Semifinals and Finals).

Fudd also ranks first in program history in career free-throw percentage (92.5%), fifth in career 3-pointers made (292), and seventh in career 3-point percentage (42.2%), while her 117 made 3-pointers during the 2025-26 campaign rank fourth on the single-season list.

Looking at her journey, which was anything but straightforward, it’s not hard to see why Fudd would struggle to grasp the reality that she has finally achieved what she set out to achieve at the start of her college career.

“I feel like when I came, you hear the stories, people come in here and see the banners,” Fudd said. “And they say, ‘Oh, I want this to be me, I want my name up there.’ And there are people who say, ‘The pressure is too much,’ and they don’t come here. I feel I was that in-between person that was like, ‘I want this, but will I be able to have my name up there?’ If not, I’ll have these incredible women to look up to, aspire to be like, chase after.”

And to top it all off, Fudd got to share that magical moment with her parents.

Azzi Fudd’s Parents Relish Her “Pretty Cool” Honor

For Azzi Fudd, the ceremony felt extra special as her parents returned to Connecticut to attend her formal induction into the Huskies of Honor. Both felt surreal at the fact that their daughter’s jersey is always going to be up there on the display.

“It is very cool that Azzi gets this honor, and to know that her name and number will be up there forever, right? That’s pretty cool that it’s a forever thing,” Katie Fudd said (via CT Insider).

Azzi’s dad, Tim Fudd, echoed the same sentiment, saying, “When you walk into Gampel, and you look up, and you see those numbers in the rafters, you know, everybody thinks that they’re going to come here and do the same thing. And she gets there, and the journey is never linear, right? It comes with some issues or difficulties that you have to mentally and physically overcome. And she had her fair share of them.

“Her name is going to be in the rafters forever, and we get to sit back and reflect on all of that, and the time, energy, and the effort that was put into her accomplishing this goal is something that I’m forever proud of, to be honest.”

While Fudd is still recovering from a season-ending arthroscopic surgery on her right knee, expectations are high for her to return even stronger next WNBA season. While the Dallas Wings suffered an early exit in the playoffs without her presence, the team will only get better with her back and fully fit.