Lopez Senechal is fitting in with Huskies
STORRS — Geno Auriemma hadn’t heard much about Lou Lopez Senechal before his program began recruiting her out of the transfer portal this spring.
Yet once the 6-foot-1 guard/forward from Fairfield committed to UConn women’s basketball, the Hall of Fame coach began hearing from various coaches across the region about just how perfect a fit Lopez Senechal would be.
One such voice was Fairfield
Athletic Director Paul Schlickmann.
“It’s funny, their AD contacted me after Lou committed here and Paul said, ‘In my 32 years of being in college athletics, I’ve never met a finer kid, a more competitive kid, a more engaging kid, a great teammate, and she’s tough as hell,’ ” Auriemma said Thursday during UConn’s media availability. “And that’s exactly what I’ve seen since she’s been here.”
Lopez Senechal has officially been a Husky for the past two weeks after she graduated from Fairfield at the end of May. While UConn is only two weeks into its five-week summer workout session, the team’s latest transfer has already fit in smoothly with her new teammates — both on and off the court.
“It’s been good. I’m really excited about it,” she said Thursday morning. “It’s a fast transition for me, I graduated two weeks ago and had to come right away but it’s gone really well. Learning a lot and embracing every day here.”
Lopez Senechal entered the transfer portal this spring with the intention of finding a more competitive conference to play in outside of the MAAC.
The Grenoble, France, native had concluded her four years at Fairfield under longtime head coach Joe Frager, and was ready for a new challenge for her fifth and final year of collegiate eligibility.
Lopez Senechal was named the 2022 MAAC
Player of the Year after averaging 19.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. She led Fairfield to the MAAC championship title and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. Through her career with the Stags, she was a three-time All-MAAC first-team selection and the 2019 MAAC Rookie of the Year.
UConn wasn’t originally on Lopez Senechal’s radar, but she knew she likely found her next home when the program contacted her.
“I didn’t even think they’d reach out to me,” she said. “I wanted to go to a higher school, a higher level, so I was expecting bigger schools from bigger conferences to reach out, but I didn’t think UConn would. So when they did it was a good opportunity for me and I was excited about it.”
Not only did Lopez Senechal tour the Storrs campus and meet her new teammates, her parents even flew in from France to see
the program that was recruiting their daughter. They even made sure to bring her new coach some local wine from their hometown.
“When UConn reached out to me, it really became my top one priority, I would say,” Lopez Senechal said. “I think it was a no-brainer for me for the challenge I was looking for. I think UConn would be the best place for that.”
At Fairfield, Lopez Senechal was listed as a forward, but UConn has listed her as a guard/forward and she’s been working out with guards Paige Bueckers and Nika Muhl (both Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme have been sidelined with injury recovery workouts). Lopez Senechal said she’s been impressed with Bueckers from doing individual workouts with UConn star.
“Definitely what you see on TV, I saw it here and it’s real. She’s really good,” Lopez Senechal said. “She’s very talented so I’m very excited to get to know her more on the court, off the court and learn from her. She’s a special person too so
it’s cool to know her outside of just social media and I’m definitely really excited to play with her every day.”
Lopez Senechal said she’s already noticed the difference in intensity, pace and expectations on the court from her new coaches and teammates compared to her time at Fairfield.
“It’s very demanding. All the coaches have really high expectations on me, on all of us, but it’s the challenge that
I was looking for so I’m gonna be ready for it,” she said.
“There’s a lot of talent. I feel very lucky to play every day with great players. … I can see myself fitting in. There’s always that transition, it takes some time, but I already feel comfortable with them and I’m getting adjusted on the court too.”
Her teammates have already taken her under their wing off the court, as
well. The group live in the same apartment complex, go out to eat together, hang out off the court and even went together to surprise former Husky Evina Westbrook in New York last weekend when the Minnesota Lynx faced the Liberty.
“She’s been great,” fellow transfer Dorka Juhasz said. “She’s fitting in great, everybody likes her. And I’ve been seeing her working out and she’s just perfectly fitting into it as a person but also as a player. She’s a very hard worker. She wants to win. She wants the challenge, so I think she’s going to be a great contribution to our team.”
While Auriemma said it’s hard to visualize exactly what Lopez Senechal’s role will be on the team this early into the offseason, her versatility and experience on the perimeter is what makes her stand out the most.
“Joe was very creative at how to get her a lot of shots,” Auriemma said. “So she’s used to having to work really hard to get open and she’s used to having to take tough shots. She falls right
into that category of a lot of our guards.”
As for Lopez Senechal, she’s open to any role and said in workouts so far, the team has been taking advantage of her on the outside.
“I’m not looking for one particular role. There’s other great types of players here so I don’t have one specific idea,” she said. “I think that right now having a week here, I’m learning a lot. I’m trying to embrace what role I’m going to have but definitely they’re using me more as an outside threat in the wing, not really on the post.”
While her official debut in a Huskies uniform is still months away, Lopez Senechal says she’s already embracing each day in Storrs.
“Sometimes I think about it twice, every time I step in the building, I feel very fortunate and I just, as I said, I don’t want to take for granted anything and it’s a great opportunity for me,” she said.