UConn’s KK Arnold, Ashlynn Shade excited as Qadence Samuels commits to NC State

The UConn Huskies won the national championship last season, breaking a drought that stretched back to 2016. However, like with most championship teams, it is challenging to keep it together. The most notable departure from the team was superstar Paige Bueckers, who started her WNBA career shortly after the championship run.

Coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies are also losing one of their promising young players. Sophomore Qadence Samuels entered the transfer portal after the season. On Friday, it was announced that she had committed to the NC State Wolfpack.

While Samuels’ former teammates are likely sad to see her go, they still support her and wish her the best in her career. KK Arnold reposted the Instagram post on her Instagram story on Friday night.

“Congratssssss Q Q,” Arnold posted.

Ashlynn Shade also reposted to news to her Instagram story.

It is notable that Arnold and Shade reposted the story because all three have been on the team for two seasons. They all played their first games for UConn in the 2023-24 season. Unfortunately for Samuels, while Shade and Arnold showed a lot of promise early in their college careers, Samuels struggled to get consistent playing time. As a result, she chose to transfer.

KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade will try to further establish themselves as stars on UConn next season

With Qadence Samuels leaving the UConn Huskies for the NC State Wolfpack, there is less competition for playing time for KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade next season. Both players will be trying to step into full-time starting roles as they enter their junior seasons.

Ashlynn Shade is the more-established of the two players, averaging 7.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. However, she had a smaller role last season after the Huskies added several players to improve the team for its championship run. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

KK Arnold had a similar trajectory over the past two seasons. As a freshman, she looked like she was a future star, averaging 8.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game. However, she had her role reduced last year and only averaged 5.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

It will be interesting to see if Shade or Arnold can earn larger roles next season and get back to their freshman form.

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Alexander O’Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex’s favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex’s favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex’s proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

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