NEW YORK – UConn graduate student guard Azzi Fudd was named the 2025-26 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday. The selection was made by the Conference’s Academic Awards Selection Committee. Fudd will receive a $2,000 stipend, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies.
Fudd is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration while maintaining a 3.57 GPA. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at UConn. She has been named to the Director of Athletics’ Honor Roll eight semesters at UConn. Her postgraduate plan includes continuing to work on various partnerships and playing professionally.
This past summer, she hosted the ninth annual Azzi Fudd Basketball Camp, Hooping For A Cure. Fudd has historically donated funds to the Pat Summit Foundation to fund Alzheimer’s disease, but this year she shifted to honoring Abby Zittoun by donating to the
AZ Family Foundation.
In May 2024 and 2025, Fudd volunteered at
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, supporting the camp's efforts to give sick kids a normal camp experience, spending afternoons getting to know campers, playing games, dancing and building relationships.
For the past three years, Fudd has volunteered at Geno’s
For the Kids Charity Dinner and the For the Kids Charity Golf Tournament, where she is responsible for coordinating the participation of teammates at the event, while spending time with patients of Connecticut Children’s Hospital and their families, raising funds for the hospital.
Fudd’s impressive volunteer work continues with providing support to patients at Connecticut Children’s Hospital. She takes time to connect with patients virtually through social media, texts, video messages and participates in the hospital’s social media-based fundraising campaigns. In this process, Fudd has formed deep and lasting relationships with patients, spending time with them both in and out of the hospital after home basketball games and even visiting a patient at home when she was unable to make it out of her house due to cancer treatment.
In her final season at UConn, the guard has set single-season career highs in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. Fudd, an Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Top 10 candidate, heads into the postseason with a .490/.451/.950 shooting split. She is a key component of UConn’s 47-straight wins, tying the fifth-longest winning streak ever in NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball history. The Huskies head into the BIG EAST Tournament with a 31-0 record, marking the 11th undefeated regular season in program history and the first since the 2017-18 season.
She was named the 2025 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, leading the Huskies to the 2025 NCAA Championship.
The BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of several scholarships presented by the BIG EAST Conference during the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, 22 student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST’s 11 member institutions) will receive postgraduate scholarships as the winners of their respective institutions’ Scholar-Athlete Award. The winners of the institutional awards are then eligible for the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which provides an additional postgraduate scholarship to one male and one female student-athlete.
All-Time BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year
| 1984-85 |
Leigh Curl |
Connecticut |
| 1985-86 |
Joan Powers |
Providence |
| 1986-87 |
Kathy Sweet |
Boston College |
| 1987-88 |
Vera Jones |
Syracuse |
| 1988-89 |
Geraldine Santilius |
Seton Hall |
| 1989-90 |
Angela Alston |
Syracuse |
| 1990-91 |
Carla Wenger |
Boston College |
| 1991-92 |
Wendy Davis |
Connecticut |
| 1992-93 |
Erin Kenneally |
Syracuse |
| 1993-94 |
Rebecca Lobo |
Connecticut |
| 1994-95 |
Rebecca Lobo |
Connecticut |
| 1995-96 |
Jennifer Rizzotti |
Connecticut |
| 1996-97 |
Kristyn Cook |
Syracuse |
| 1997-98 |
Raquel Nurse |
Syracuse |
| 1998-99 |
Rebecca Burbridge |
West Virginia |
| 1999-2000 |
Cal Bouchard |
Boston College |
| 2000-01 |
Ruth Riley |
Notre Dame |
| 2001-02 |
Nicole Conway |
Boston College |
| 2002-03 |
Alicia Ratay |
Notre Dame |
| 2003-04 |
Courtney Mix |
Villanova |
| 2004-05 |
Ashley Bush |
Seton Hall |
| 2005-06 |
Megan Duffy |
Notre Dame |
| 2006-07 |
Jenna Rubino |
DePaul |
| 2007-08 |
Allie Quigley |
DePaul |
| 2008-09 |
Jill Stephens |
Cincinnati |
| 2009-10 |
Maya Moore |
Connecticut |
| 2010-11 |
Maya Moore |
Connecticut |
| 2011-12 |
Da'Shena Stevens |
St. John's |
| 2012-13 |
Anna Martin |
DePaul |
| 2013-14 |
Katherine Plouffe |
Marquette |
| 2014-15 |
Brittany Hrynko |
DePaul |
| 2015-16 |
Megan Podkowa |
DePaul |
| 2016-17 |
Brooke Schulte |
DePaul |
| 2017-18 |
Allazia Blockton |
Marquette |
| 2018-19 |
Allazia Blockton |
Marquette |
| 2019-20 |
Chante Stonewall |
DePaul |
| 2020-21 |
Lexi Held |
DePaul |
| 2021-22 |
Ayanna Townsend |
Xavier |
| 2022-23 |
Maddy Siegrist |
Villanova |
| 2023-24 |
Paige Bueckers |
Connecticut |
| 2024-25 |
Jorie Allen |
DePaul |
| 2025-26 |
Azzi Fudd |
Connecticut |