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By Mallory Mattingly
UConn women’s basketball stars Azzi Fudd and KK Arnold got baptized after their team lost to South Carolina in the Final Four March Madness game.
UConn men’s star Tarris Reed Jr. shared the news in an Instagram post after his team lost the National Championship game to Michigan.
“I’ve been wrestling with God about this all day, really the past 24 hours. It’s been one of the hardest, yet most peaceful and freeing stretches of my life,” Reed wrote on Instagram. “Coming to terms with the fact that the college basketball journey I’ve been chasing since I was a little kid is over hurts. Losing the biggest game of my entire basketball career hurts. Knowing how hard I worked and the sacrifices I made just to be in that position, and still coming up short, it hurts.”
Related: Faith-Fueled Rise: Tarris Reed Jr. Leads UConn Huskies Back to Final 4
“At the same time, I’m reminded to be content in every situation. Looking back at the game, I know I gave it my all, but I still see the mistakes I made,” he continued. “I want to be better. I tend to be a perfectionist, but only Jesus was perfect. So it’s been tough wrestling with that.”
When the players returned to campus on Tuesday, Reed felt the Holy Spirit nudging him to speak at an Athletes in Action meeting that night. And although he didn’t want to, he obeyed the Lord and was grateful he listened.
“After everything, flying back and moving on from the game, I felt like Jesus put it on my heart to go to an Athletes in Action meeting and even to speak. I didn’t want to speak. We got back late, around 5 PM, and the meeting was at 7, so I barely had time to prepare anything. But I told myself I would let the Holy Spirit speak through me,” he revealed.
“That night, two of the women’s basketball players got baptized,” Reed revealed, speaking about Fudd and Arnold. “It was truly a blessing.”
Though his college career is at an end, Reed is grateful for how God guided him every step of the way.
“I’m filled with gratitude just looking around, just so thankful for it all,” he shared on Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast. “It’s crazy how I’m at my last year, going into my last semester, and now I’m realizing, ‘Wow, look at the Lord. Look what the Lord has blessed me with.’ I wish I could have known this in my freshman year…Be grateful for it, man, because this is it for me.”
Though both of UConn’s basketball teams came up short in this year’s National Championship run, God used the defeats for something greater.
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