NEWCOMER CONTRIBUTIONS
Arnold’s maturity as a freshman helping Huskies Freshman Andersen leads Fairfield to national stage
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — UConn women’s basketball needed someone to step up.
The Huskies’ offense kept turning the ball over and couldn’t get out of Seton Hall’s double teams under the basket. Meanwhile, the Pirates were making nearly every shot down at the other end. Enter KK Arnold. The freshman found her spot on the perimeter and drained four 3-pointers in the first half Wednesday night. She was quick without being clumsy and forced others to play up to her tempo while challenging Seton Hall defenders to keep up.
Despite being just a few months into her first college season, Arnold’s maturity on the court was on full display Wednesday in UConn’s 83-59 win at Seton Hall. She finished with 15 points, including making a season-high four out of six 3-pointers. Not only has Arnold become a vital piece to UConn’s starting lineup, but her constant upward growth on both sides of the ball has been a huge boost for the Huskies in their current 11-game win streak.
“She’s done a really good job,” red shirt junior guard Paige Bueckers said. “It starts in practice; she works extremely hard, does individual workouts before practice even starts, so it’s her just continuing to gain confidence and us instilling that confidence for her because we need her. She’s done a great job up to this point. And we expect it going forward.”
Arnold, the No. 6ranked recruit in the Class of 2023, impressed in her unofficial UConn debut during the team’s European exhibition games in Europe in August. Her high basketball IQ and court vision was outstanding as she always seemed to play one step ahead of everyone else. She finished with 13
FAIRFIELD — Meghan Andersen’s first choice to continue her academic and athletic careers in high school wasn’t Fairfield University or its women’s basketball team. She verbally committed to Fordham early in her junior year at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset, N.Y.
But a coaching change in the Bronx followed by some fast work by newlyhired Stags coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis had the 6-foot-1 forward giving Fairfield a second look.
“It’s kind of funny,” Andersen said. “Coach Carly was still in Minnesota when I took my visit here. I met her on FaceTime and two days later I committed here. She made it a point to be there somehow. It was just the way she communicated to me.
“I knew I loved the school though I hadn’t met the girls. But the way they explained how they saw me playing, the way they explained the team culture they wanted, I knew this was where I wanted to be.”
With the freshman’s precocious play, Andersen has helped the Stags get to where they want to be — in first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Entering Saturday’s MAAC game at Marist, Fairfield (14-1, 6-0 MAAC) is the only unbeaten in conference play. Its 12game winning streak since its loss at Vanderbilt on Nov. 12 is third-longest in the country to topranked South Carolina (16) and No. 2 Iowa (15). A week ago, it received votes in the Associated Press poll for the first time in program history.
Andersen leads the Stags and the MAAC in scoring (17.9) with a teambest 6.1 rebounds that is 10th in the conference. She ranks second in the MAAC in field-goal percentage (55.1) and is tied for fourth in 3-point percentage (41.7). Her 90.0 percent foul shooting