Fudd heeds Geno's nail tips, powers 53-point win

Fudd heeds Geno's nail tips, powers 53-point win

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STORRS, Conn. -- In her last game at Gampel Pavilion, UConn star Azzi Fudd made sure to go out on a high note.

Fudd, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA draft, rattled off 26 of her career-high-tying 34 points in the first half, leading the No. 1 overall seed Huskies to their 32nd straight Sweet 16 appearance behind a 98-45 clobbering of No. 9 seed Syracuse.

"I felt like I reached flow state for a second," Fudd said. "My teammates were just finding me, setting me great screens. ... I feel like I wasn't really thinking. When I was open, I was like, 'OK, I'm going to shoot it.'"

The Huskies -- now four wins from an undefeated season and back-to-back national championships -- have won 52 consecutive games, the fifth-longest streak in Division I history. They'll face No. 4 seed North Carolina on Friday for a spot in the Elite Eight.

Fudd's onslaught came two days after a tough individual start to the NCAA tournament: The senior guard sat most of the first half against UTSA after picking up three first-quarter fouls, then finished with only seven points (3-for-9 shooting).

In between games, coach Geno Auriemma wanted Fudd to take her mind off her shooting woes, and he jokingly suggested she trim her fingernails.

"It'll make the ball happy, and the ball will like you, and you'll make more shots," he jested. "She and Ice [Brady] looked at me like I was an idiot, and I walked away, I said, 'Look, I don't believe it either, but it's worth trying.'"

"I did, I trimmed them. I had a nail file yesterday before practice," Fudd told ESPN's Holly Rowe before heading into the locker room at halftime Monday. "I guess [Auriemma] was right, I had to cut my nails."

Whether it was Auriemma's advice or shooter's luck, Fudd (13-of-18 shooting, including 8-of-11 from 3) and the Huskies benefited.

Her offensive explosion in the second quarter, during which she hit four of her career-high-tying eight 3-pointers, fueled a 31-0 Huskies run that brought the crowd to its feet. The burst helped balloon their lead to 65-12 going into the break -- good for the second-largest halftime lead in NCAA tournament history.

"We were pretty focused, and we were pretty locked in together," Auriemma said. "That's the best half of basketball, best 20 minutes, that I've seen in a long, long time from our team. Not just this team, it's happened other times, but this is about as good as it gets."

The Huskies excelled on both ends of the floor, their defensive pressure creating a multitude of opportunities to score on the other end and their unselfishness with the ball leading the way. In the first half alone, they shot 66% with 20 assists on 27 field goals, while also coming away with 13 steals and holding the Orange scoreless for over 10 minutes of game time.

Azzi Fudd scored 26 of her career-high-tying 34 points in the first half in her final game at Gampel Pavilion on Monday. She also tied a career high with eight 3-pointers, one short of the NCAA tournament single-game record. Jessica Hill/APAlways one to nitpick his teams in the pursuit of perfection, Auriemma was relatively speechless with his players at the half.

"It was just kind of funny for [Auriemma] to walk in with no comments," junior guard Ashlynn Shade said. "He kind of laughed, and we were like, 'OK!' He was just like, 'Great half of basketball.'"

"When you have really good players that want to play together and they want to share the ball, things like that can happen," Auriemma said. "You just marvel at the things that they can do when they're all in sync, because it doesn't happen very often, or often enough. But what I was watching that first half, I knew I was watching something that was pretty."

It was as good of a sendoff as Fudd and the other Huskies seniors could get as they bid farewell to Storrs and turn their attention to Fort Worth, Texas, while keeping their sights set on cutting down the nets in Phoenix.

"Gampel has been home for the last five years, and when people say, like, no place compares, it really doesn't," Fudd said. "Everything about this place is amazing. So to be able to play here one last time, have a great team win like we did tonight, couldn't have asked for anything better."

Fudd, who also finished with five assists, four steals and three rebounds, was supported by strong nights from sophomore star Sarah Strong (18 points, nine rebounds) and freshman standout Blanca Quiñonez (18 points, four assists). Syracuse was led by top scorer Uche Izoje (12 points).