UConn's Azzi Fudd Says She Felt Kobe, Gigi 'Watching Down on Us' in Title Game

UConn star Azzi Fudd says she believes her Huskies got an assist from the Mamba and the Mambacita during their title tilt last weekend ... telling TMZ Sports she felt Kobe and Gianna Bryant "watching down on us" during the big game.

Some five years after the NBA legend and his daughter -- who was a massive UConn fan -- passed away in a tragic helicopter accident ... Fudd says she felt their presence as she and her teammates were taking down South Carolina in the national championship in San Antonio.

She told us it all became crystal clear to her when someone pointed out a few Bryant-related numbers in the matchup's box score.

"Someone else asked me," Fudd told us while she worked a ceremonial shift with Kk Arnold at a Raising Cane's this week, "there were a couple scores -- 24, 8 -- in the stat line and they were like, 'Do you believe in God's power?'"

"And I was like, 'Yeah, that's God. That's them. That's Kobe. That's Gigi. That's them watching down on us, cheering us on in this game. She was there. She's not here, but she was there in spirit."

Fudd had met the Bryant duo before their deaths ... she actually worked out with them in Los Angeles just a few months prior to the accident. She posed with the two for pictures during the on-court session, and when we reminded her of the snaps, she got a bit emotional ... as she realized Gigi "would have been a freshman" this year if she had survived.

"That definitely did cross my mind," she said.

Vanessa actually shouted out Fudd and her teammates following their big win over the Gamecocks ... and Fudd told us this week she was grateful for the kind words.