After walking on Senior Day, UConn’s Ayanna Patterson has ‘more years of basketball to play’

STORRS — Azzi Fudd is typically the first player eager to end a postgame media availability, but the UConn women’s basketball star wasn’t going to leave her Senior Day press conference until redshirt sophomore Ayanna Patterson got her flowers.

Sitting to the right of Patterson following an 81-38 win over Providence on Sunday, Fudd interjected when there were no more questions from the assembled reporters. Patterson, who was already moving to stand up, glanced over at her in surprise.

“I just want to talk about how Yanna is one of the hardest workers on our team,” Fudd said as Patterson ducked her head bashfully. “No matter how many minutes she gets, she comes in and gives her all. I just want to make that public announcement, because she doesn’t get the attention she deserves, but she’s one of the best teammates to play with because you know she’s going to run through a wall for you.”

While Patterson leaned over to hug Fudd, wiping tears from her eyes, junior point guard KK Arnold chimed in.

“The best thing about her is she always keeps a smile on her face,” Arnold said.

get yourself teammates like @azzi_35 and @ayannap34 pic.twitter.com/P83nKqgak8

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) February 22, 2026

Patterson arrived at UConn as the No. 4 recruit in the Class of 2022, but almost nothing has gone to plan for the 6-foot-2 forward during her college career. Coach Geno Auriemma says, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at all.”

Patterson appeared in 30 games averaging 10 minutes as a freshman in 2022-23, but she missed the entirety of her sophomore and junior years due to season-ending injuries. She first underwent surgery in Dec. 2023 to repair patellar tendonitis that had lingered since her high school days. Then, just before she was set to return to the court in Nov. 2024, Patterson suffered a shoulder injury during practice that required surgery and set her back another year. She made her first game appearance in 960 days in UConn’s 99-67 win over Florida State on Nov. 9.

Even in the lead-up to Senior Day, Patterson’s bad luck continued. The redshirt sophomore fell hard on her hip during practice, and Auriemma said he expected she would be out for Sunday’s game until the morning of when she decided she felt well enough to play. Patterson made the first start of her career but asked to sub out after just over two minutes, and she remained on the bench for the rest of the matchup.

“It seems like every little thing that could possibly happen has happened, and just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else pops up,” Auriemma said. “I don’t think she’s gotten the opportunity to to have enough reps in practice, not enough time during the offseason, so she’s way, way behind. But this year she’s had an opportunity to be on the court more often, to be to be able to work on the things that you know she wanted to work on to get better at, so we’ll see where that takes us.”

Patterson’s role has been limited this season as she reacclimates to playing at game speed after so much time on the sidelines. She has appeared in 22 games and averages just 5.4 minutes, but the redshirt sophomore is beloved in the locker room and has consistently set the example for what work ethic looks like amid her setbacks.

“There are different journeys for every kid that goes through college, and at the end you may have gotten what you wanted, you may not have gotten what you wanted, but you certainly got a lot,” Auriemma said. “It’s life-changing for you, for your teammates, for everyone, and it can’t all be about what happened on the court. There’s so much more to to your college career, so I think Yanna’s gotten a lot out of this. Unfortunately, it didn’t translate to having the opportunity to do it on the court.”

Patterson has two years of eligibility remaining should she choose to use them, but she still decided to walk on Senior Day. She completed her degree at the end of the fall semester, so participating in the ceremony gave her the opportunity to formally celebrate graduating college with her teammates.

“I finished academically, so I felt like it was fitting,” Patterson said. “I was really proud of that moment of graduating, even though I have more years of basketball to play. Being able to graduate from college is a big moment, so being able to walk on Senior Day was phenomenal.”

Patterson also wanted to walk alongside classmate Ice Brady, who she has shared the court with just once in their four years at UConn. Brady, a redshirt junior, has also struggled with injuries through her career: She missed her freshman year after dislocating her patella and appeared in just two games this season before undergoing surgery for a knee injury last week.

“Me and Ice can lean on each other no matter what with us coming in together and her battling through hardships, I’m battling through hardships, so we both collectively can be there for each other,” Patterson said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. (She’s) like a sister to me and will always be a sister to me.”

Though Patterson indicated on Senior Day that she intends to continue playing in college after this season, she was non-committal on whether she’ll be back at UConn in 2026-27.

“I’ve loved my time here at UConn, and I’ve loved playing with this group of guys,” Patterson said. “That locker room means everything to me, the coaching staff and the players. That’s family. Those are my sisters, and I would love to be back in that locker room with them.”

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