TAMPA, Fla. — Around mid-February, after UConn lost to Tennessee but then trounced South Carolina by 29 points, guards Kaitlyn Chen and Azzi Fudd were talking in the sauna after practice.
“This is why I came to UConn. This is the Azzi I committed here to play with,” Chen told Fudd, referencing Fudd’s 28-point performance against the Gamecocks. “Not the Azzi that played against Tennessee. I don’t know who that was.”
Fast forward to Sunday, when UConn beat South Carolina 82-59 to win the national championship. Fudd and Chen found each other on the stage before the trophy presentation and started laughing hysterically.
“See, this is why I came to UConn, to win and to play with you!” Chen told her.
Chen, a graduate transfer from Princeton, committed to UConn last spring for her final year of eligibility in large part because she wanted to win a national championship. She’d accomplished nearly everything else: She won three Ivy League regular-season titles and three Ivy League Tournament titles in as many seasons, won two NCAA Tournament games, and was the 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year. As a senior in 2023-24, she averaged 15.8 points, 4.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 34.9 minutes per game.
At UConn this season, Chen became more of a facilitator than a scorer on a team that featured Fudd, the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player; Wade Trophy winner Paige Bueckers; and All-American Sarah Strong. Chen started all 40 games and averaged 6.9 points, 3.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game. She also averaged the fewest turnovers per 40 minutes of her career and had career-best shooting percentages from 2-point range, 3-point range and the free-throw line.
“I’ve trusted Kaitlyn Chen since the minute she walked on campus,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma told reporters on Saturday.
“At Kaitlyn’s truest form, she’s a winner,” Princeton assistant coach Lauren Dillon told The Next on Thursday. “So even watching her as a player from sophomore year to junior to senior year, she gave us a little something different each of those years, and this year is no different. … She’s a better distributor and passer. And to see her game change a bit is exactly what I expected.”
Chen had a good idea of what UConn would be like because her head coach at Princeton, Carla Berube, played for Auriemma and won a national title in 1995. Since the Ivy League doesn’t allow graduate students to compete, Chen had no choice but to transfer for her final season, and Berube helped advise her during the process.
Chen fit in with the Huskies right away last summer, stepping in among the stars and leading as a point guard.
“She walks into a situation that any kid would be intimidated by,” Auriemma said. “I’m walking into UConn and I’ve got Paige Bueckers over here and Azzi Fudd over here and I’ve got this guy here. And now I’m going to walk in and I’m going to go, ‘OK, give me the ball. I’m in charge.’ That takes a lot of guts.”
“She’s been an instant leader,” sophomore guard Ashlynn Shade told The Next on Thursday. “I think she never really shied away from knowing that this is a team that she can lead on [and] this is a team that she can contribute [to].”
“To have her on this team as just another voice of reason was incredible,” Fudd told reporters on Sunday.
Chen told reporters on Sunday that Princeton had taught her the poise she needed to succeed at UConn and in the Final Four. And there were even some Auriemma-isms she’d already learned as Berube-isms, like “Play hard, play smart, have fun” and “Practice before an off day — got to be a good one.”
Chen also helped mentor and support her UConn teammates this season, even as they teased her and lovingly called her “weird.” Fudd said Chen had been “a rock” for her throughout the season, and sophomore point guard KK Arnold told The Next on Thursday that she’d learned about being aggressive, using her voice and knowing what plays to call in certain moments from Chen.
Shade, who was Chen’s roommate on the road for much of the NCAA Tournament, said Chen watches a lot of film and would sometimes point out opponents’ tendencies to Shade before games.
“You can see [the impact of that] a lot when you’re out playing the games,” Shade said. “You’re like, ‘Oh yeah, she did say those things,’ and you can then focus on that.”
“Playing with her is incredible,” redshirt freshman center Jana El Alfy told The Next on Thursday. “She always keeps you motivated, keeps you hyped. Her presence on the floor, just her being there, playing next to her, you can already feel her aura or energy or whatever. It affects everybody on the court.”
Throughout the season, Chen stayed in close touch with her Princeton teammates and coaches. Several of them attended UConn games this season, including against Georgetown and Seton Hall in BIG EAST play and the Huskies’ final home game in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s fun watching her from a different vantage point of being in the stands versus on the court,” Dillon said. “… I think I’ve been able to be more in awe of her and support [her].”
Chen also had individual text message chains and a group chat with her Princeton coaches. Mostly, they cheered her on, but they also pointed out things they saw and talked her through slumps.
“You have these four years together and then you’ve been through so much, and then the relationship changes to just more of a friendship,” Berube told The Next on Thursday. “And it’s great. I love that part of it, and that’s certainly what she’s become.”
When Chen committed to UConn, Berube told Auriemma not to call her to complain about Chen turning the ball over or missing shots, only to share praise. He did jokingly glare at Berube when Chen turned the ball over during a December game Berube attended. But Berube said on Thursday that he’d also texted her a few times “pretty much saying [recruiting Chen] was the best decision he’s made in a long time.”
Perhaps the most obvious validation of that decision came in the Elite Eight against No. 1 seed USC. UConn wasn’t getting much offense from anyone besides Bueckers and Strong, so Chen stepped up as a vital third scorer. She had 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, two assists and no turnovers to help the No. 2 seed Huskies advance to the Final Four.
“Vintage Kaitlyn Chen,” Berube said. “… It was just her at her best.”
“The Princeton players, they’re tough and they’re full of guts because they have to be to get to where they want to go,” Auriemma said. “[Chen] was the go-to player on that team and was OK coming here and taking a smaller role. And yet … when it was time for a big role against USC, she stood up and embraced it. And I’m not surprised by any of that. That’s who she is. And actually, to be honest with you, that’s who Carla was as a player.”
“It was really fun just to see her go off and see Coach and everybody just get riled up for it,” Arnold said.
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Chen continued her steady play in the Final Four, recording zero turnovers across the two games. She described her emotions leading up to Friday’s semifinal as “nervous excitement, not really nervous.” The Huskies had the late game, tipping off after 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, so Chen drank a second coffee that day — four espresso shots in total. But otherwise, it was business as usual.
Her Princeton coaches were in Tampa for both games, along with former teammates including Ellie Mitchell, Julia Cunningham, Maggie Connolly, Chet Nweke and Lexi Weger. With several of them donning Chen’s old Princeton jerseys, they appeared on the jumbotron during the first media timeout on Friday, and Chen snuck in a wave in the closing minutes of the blowout win over No. 1 seed UCLA.
“I would not be here … if it wasn’t for my time at Princeton, and it made it so much more special that my [Princeton] coaches and my teammates and my best friends were able to experience this with me,” Chen said on Sunday.
On Sunday, with the Princeton crew in the stands again, Chen led UConn onto the court for the final layup line before the national title game. She hit an underhanded floater less than four minutes in and had four first-half assists. And though she played just 18 minutes in the blowout, she was animated and engaged on the sideline. She watched much of the game leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, and she frequently stood up and snapped her towel to celebrate teammates’ plays.
As the final seconds ticked down and the buzzer sounded, Chen thought to herself, “I can’t believe this is actually happening.”
She leaped into a celebration with her UConn teammates, and a little later, she found her Princeton supporters in the stands and jumped into their maze of hugs and kisses. Then she walked up onto the stage with her teammates, where they stood under banners recognizing the past NCAA champions.
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Confetti cannons went off, creating about 30 seconds of whiteout conditions. A beaming Chen turned her championship hat upside down and held it out to catch confetti like snowflakes. She crouched down to shovel more confetti from the floor into the hat, then threw a fistful in Arnold’s face from close range.
After the trophy presentation, Chen and her teammates sat down on the stage for photos. Generations of UConn alumnae joined them for another round, standing mostly on the court below. Berube headed straight for Chen, patting her knee and high-fiving her with her other hand. Chen patted Berube’s head, forcing Berube to smooth out her ponytail, and threw confetti in her face.
“She said she was so proud and she was so happy that I came here, which I’m so happy I came here,” Chen said. “And I’m so glad that I was able to have that moment with her.”
All that was left to do on the court was something Chen did often at Princeton: cut down the net. El Alfy was the self-appointed hype woman during the entire procession, yelling Chen’s full name as she approached the ladder. But El Alfy couldn’t help but double over laughing when Chen forgot to pause and smile for photos with her piece of the net before starting her descent.
“I think I sort of forget how to go up and down a ladder every time I do it,” Chen said. “I’m always super careful. I’m scared I’m gonna trip and fall because I think that might be top 10 most embarrassing things to do.”
Yet, after Chen got safely on the ground and El Alfy swooped her up in a bear hug, she turned to Fudd and talked her through what to do when her turn came. It was the latest example of Chen doing what’s come naturally to her all season — leading her teammates, even the superstars.
And because Chen was unafraid to do that, she became a star in her role, helping deliver the national championship she and the Huskies had dreamed of.
“We’re so happy to be here,” she said in the locker room afterward, still grinning ear to ear and waiting for the dream to feel like reality.
