Paige Bueckers has split her offseason between sharpening her skills in the gym and attending her former teammate's WNBA games. On Thursday night, she attended the Minnesota Lynx vs. Washington Mystics game, where former UConn teammates Dorka Juhász and Aaliyah Edwards played.
Azzi Fudd was in attendance with Bueckers, and the duo took pictures with their former teammates. Some of those snaps were posted on both the Mystics and the Lynx Instagram pages with the caption:
"Huskies. 💙."
Fans on Instagram reacted with joy after seeing the mini Huskies reunion:
Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd are best friends
Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers have a long history together. They met in 2019 during a USA basketball camp, where they competed for the shooting guard position.
Bueckers revealed in a Huskies in-house interview that Fudd underestimated her talent and that she had to battle hard to show what she was about. Afterward, the duo became fast friends as Bueckers even convinced Fudd to join UConn.
Although they have both been Huskies for a while, they have only played 15 games together due to various injuries.
During last year's Big East media days, UConn coach Geno Auriemma lamented Bueckers and Fudd's constant injuries and that they've played so few games together.
“We’ve been robbed,” Auriemma said. “Because when you go to a show or something, you want to see people that love being on stage, it just emanates from them, and these two (Fudd & Bueckers) have that. When I watch it in practice, it’s uncanny how they just feed off each other.”
Last November, Azzi Fudd, like Bueckers, tore the ACL and meniscus in her right knee, ruling her out for the rest of the season.
In an interview with the Insider after getting injured, Fudd revealed how seeing Paige Bueckers cope with her season-ending injuries inspired her.
"I feel like it gets so easy to be like, 'Oh, my knees are feeling better' or 'Oh, I'm starting to feel good again. I'm not going to do this,'" Fudd said. "But seeing Paige and having her here… seeing her do all that has helped me stay on top of my stuff. I'll even do some of her stuff with her."
The basketball world hopes Bueckers and Fudd can play a full season together next year as the UConn Huskies attempt to win national championship No. 12.
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