🌟 A CLASSIC AT THE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CLASSIC

UCONN MAKES BROOKLYN FEEL LIKE HOME

Black Rosie Media was in the house for the Women’s Champions Classic at Barclays, and we got to see some high-level hoops throughout the day.

The opener of the doubleheader saw Louisville take on Tennessee in a late morning showdown.

Louisville used an extended 35-15 second-half run to take what was a close game and turn it into an 89-65 rout. Jeff Walz’s team was able to dominate in part by making things tough on Vols star Janiah Barker. Barker had her worst outing of the season as she had season lows in points and field goal percentage. The Cardinals sped Barker up and forced her into a lot of difficult choices. On offense, Louisville didn’t have its best outing of the season as it turned it over 19 times.

However, they forced the Vols into 16 turnovers, as Tennessee struggled to manage Louisville’s full-court presses and half-court trapping defense. The Cardinals are off for the holidays and will return to the court on New Year’s Day against SMU as conference play begins in the ACC.

In game two of the doubleheader, Iowa took on the reigning and undefeated champion UConn Huskies. In the first half, Sarah Strong put on a show for the ages as she had 20/5/3/5/1 and played all 20 minutes. She was able to get wherever she wanted on the court and had a perfect blend of drives, post-ups, and spot-up shooting as she flummoxed a game Hawkeye team.

After half, UConn’s other superstar and likely WNBA Draft lottery pick took over. Azzi Fudd had a rough start to the game, going 3-9 from the field and not recording an assist. Despite those early struggles, she remained engaged on both sides of the ball and kept taking open shots as they came within the flow of the offense. That good process paid off as she scored 21 points of her game-high 27 points after halftime, as she dominated the Hawkeyes at all three levels.

At the Women’s Basketball Classic in 2024, Fudd left the UConn win over Louisville with a right knee injury. In the postgame, Erica asked Fudd if the 2024 injury crossed her mind, and she admitted that it did in practice, but only briefly. She added:

“Having the confidence of my teammates and the coaches, no matter what, I feel like that is just [the most important thing]. When I can't find that confidence in myself and I start to question things, having them in my ear giving me that motivation helps so much.”

As we talked about on the December 19 edition of Gotta Get Up, Fudd checks a lot of boxes for teams and is a great candidate to be taken first overall in the 2026 Draft.

Fudd has been sensational and is ready to be a star in the WNBA. She does everything well and has a relentless motor. As she continues to get ready for her professional career, games like this show that she’s always one play away from changing the tenor of a game.

At the Women’s Champions Classic, we got a chance to speak to Jan Jensen and Geno Auriemma. We’ll have plenty more in a special Coaches’ Corner coming soon to Black Rosie Media!