Plus: UConn is interested in extending the series with USC while Ayanna Patterson should be fully healed by summer workouts.
Azzi Fudd has a chance to return to game action against USC on Saturday, Geno Auriemma revealed.
“Doable,” he said on Friday. “It can happen. I’m saying there’s a chance.”
“I know she wants to play,” he added.
Fudd missed the last three games after suffering a minor knee sprain in the win over Louisville on Saturday, Dec. 7. She was ruled out for a week then considered day-to-day afterwards. In that span, the Huskies lost at Notre Dame, beat Georgetown at home then took down Iowa State at Mohegan Sun Arena.
With the No. 7 Trojans coming to town, Fudd could provide UConn with a major boost in the backcourt. Prior to the injury, she had scored 18 points twice in a three-game stretch as the third option to Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong. The redshirt junior has played in five contests overall this season since returning from a torn ACL on Nov. 20.
Series extension incoming?
UConn and USC will begin the first leg of a home-and-home series between the schools on Saturday. Next season, the Huskies will make the return trip to Los Angeles to complete the contract. After that, Auriemma has designs on making the Trojans a fixture on the schedule.
“I don’t know that this will be the last time that we play — these two [games]. I’m hoping that it becomes more more common,” he said. “I think it’s great. I wish we could continue this more than two years, and I’m going to work hard to do that.”
While Auriemma conceded that the distance between them is a factor, it helps that he has a good relationship with USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb — both personally and professionally.
“Lindsay was a camper of mine back in the day and so I’ve known her since she was like 15 or 16 — and we’ve been great friends ever since,” he said. “When she was at Cal, we did a home and home (in 2018-19 and 2019-20).”
Timeline for Ayanna Patterson’s recovery
If there’s a silver lining to Ayanna Patterson undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery this past Monday, it’s that the team worked quickly to set up the procedure and get it over with. By being expeditious, she should be good to go for summer workouts next June.
“The doctors think it’s that in six months, she’ll be 100 percent ready to go back to basketball. That’s what they’re predicting,” Auriemma passed along. “And I know Yanna will work her butt off.”
Patterson will miss two straight seasons due to injury: This year, she suffered a shoulder surgery in October then experienced a setback in The Bahamas as she was nearing a return. In 2023-24, Patterson battled knee tendinitis that eventually required surgery in December.
Even with all that missed time, UConn remains bullish on her potential.
“I’m really pulling for her because those five or six days that she practiced with us — I mean the difference is so stark of what she brings that we that we don’t have,” Auriemma said. “She’s just different, way different than everybody else.
“Just how strong she is and how aggressive she is and how many things she impacts: Defensively, rebounding, running the floor. Her energy is just infectious. That was so evident. She had been away for so long that it got everybody excited. Like, ‘Wow, one more thing that we can add.’ And then…”