March Madness: No. 2 UConn routs Arkansas State 103-34 in opener as Fudd has 27 points

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The second-seeded UConn women’s basketball team wasted little time in dashing any hopes of an upset by No. 15 seed Arkansas State.

After the Red Wolves’ Crislyn Rose scored the game’s first basket in the NCAA Tournament first-round game, UConn ripped off the next 22 points en route to a convincing 103-34 victory on Saturday.

Azzi Fudd had 21 of her 27 points in the first half as the Huskies led 66-16 at halftime to win their 31st consecutive tournament opener.

Fudd also had six steals and seven assists in 22 minutes. Sarah Strong finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocked shots in her first March Madness game. Ashlynn Shade came off the bench to add 20 points.

“Coach (Geno Auriemma) kind of challenged me to take more risks,” Fudd said. “I tried to get in the passing lane more, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do, and I’ve gotten more comfortable with it. So just being aggressive today, trying to get in the passing lane. He said it before, You’ll be surprised how many times they just throw it right in your hand.”

Rose led Arkansas State with seven points. The Red Wolves shot 17.1% from the floor and were 6 of 40 on 3-pointers.

All-American Paige Bueckers didn't need to be the focus of the offense with Fudd and Strong dominating in the early going. She finished with 11 points and four assists in 22 minutes to guarantee her one last game at Gampel Pavilion in Monday's second round game.

UConn finished with 41 fast-break points and 34 points off 20 Arkansas State turnovers.

“This is the only time in a year where you have two weeks off, right?," Auriemma said. "Last time we played was two weeks ago. Well, Monday night’s game will be two weeks since we played that game. You never have that much time off, and you have no idea how much it’s going to (go) believe me, there were some God-awful practices during those two weeks. I mean, awful.

“I think that’s their way of saying, Coach, we just want to play. So when game time does roll around, there’s been a lot of pent-up frustration and waiting. You know it’s going to come out. I could see it yesterday at practice, shoot-around today. There’s a different look, a different vibe when game time is right here right now.”

Ducharme happy to be back

Caroline Ducharme received a huge roar from the crowd as she came into game with 3:17 left in the second quarter. After missing the NCAA tournament and most of the 2023-24 season as a result of a concussion, Ducharme was thrilled to get a warm reception in her first home NCAA tournament game since 2023.

It took all of 37 seconds for Ducharme to make her first basket. Azzi Fudd passed up an open 3-pointer to give Ducharme the ball.

“It is definitely nice when I checked in, she said, if you touch it, you better shoot it,” Ducharme said. “At times, I don’t always want to take the first shot. I am not used to being in this role where people saw shoot it, shoot it, shoot it.

“I think sometimes if feels like (she is) a little bit of a charity case but they say, no this is your moment, you deserve it. You have worked so hard to come back and deserve this.”

Hitting triple digits again

Jana El Alfy’s free throw with 3:01 left put UConn at 100 points. It was the 12th time in program history that the Huskies hit triple digits in its NCAA opener. UConn topped 100 points in six of its last nine games to get the quest for a 12th national title off to an impressive start.

Up next

The Huskies face South Dakota State on Monday.

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