PORTLAND, Ore. – An ice bath and gospel music with a little bit of R&B mixed in.
That’s the way KK Arnold celebrated the biggest win of her basketball career Saturday night, one in which she played a crucial role in allowing the UConn women’s basketball team to advance into today’s Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.
In Saturday’s 53-45 Sweet 16 victory for the Huskies over Duke, the 5-foot-9 freshman guard scored 12 points in a game in which they were at a premium.
She had a game-high five steals in a game ultimately decided by defense. And in a contest where both teams spent boundless amounts of energy setting the tempo, ultimately no one could keep pace with Arnold.
Despite playing at a frantic pace at both ends of the court, Arnold was one of three Huskies – along with seniors Paige Bueckers and Nika Muhl – who played 40 minutes. For someone so young in such a meaningful game, it was an epic performance.
“I am just focusing on the next play,” Arnold said. “Me going 100 miles per hour, I am trying to control myself in terms of finding the right read and the next play. That is something I keep growing and evolving with each game.”
Arnold did have two crucial turnovers in the game’s final 1:46 as Duke scrambled back from a 20-point deficit to make it a five-point game in the final minute, but she owned up to those mistakes as valuable learning experiences.
“I think maybe the last three minutes maybe she realized, ‘Oh my God. We are in the Sweet 16,'” Coach Geno Auriemma said. “Beyond that, though, she played great.”
It was one of those physical, tightly contested defensive games in which it was very difficult to spring players loose for open shots or unobstructed drives to the basket.
“So now you need people who can get their own shots and can get to the basket on their own,” Auriemma said. “They don’t need four screens or anything like that, and KK is one of the few on our team that can.
“Especially with Ash (Shade) really struggling to score and get touches, I thought KK really made a huge impact. She is playing with a lot of confidence.”
She said that confidence has come from being thrown into the fire in the wake of the Huskies’ five season-ending injuries. It was sink or swim, and she frantically splashed her arms and kicked her legs, at first just to tread water but then ultimately to swim in fine form.
Saturday’s game showed she truly has evolved, and there was one area of her game of which she was really proud.
“Honestly just not getting stuck,” Arnold said. “In the beginning of the season, I would get to an area and just get stuck and try to pivot out. I am finding myself, pacing myself, dribbling out and finding the next good play, the next read, setting things up and getting my teammates a break.”
Her two late turnovers were her only two in a game that featured 46 (23 by Duke). She had four assists, the only Husky besides Nika Muhl (eight) with more than one.
“She is amazing,” Muhl said. “She is our spark on offense and on defense. She makes things happen. She always has confidence and doesn’t get shaken up. We are used to it. Every day our freshmen prove themselves more and more to the extent we didn’t even know was possible.”
Auriemma paid Arnold a huge compliment by saying that really the big difference between last year’s team and this year’s is the addition of not just Paige Bueckers, but Arnold.
“For teams that want to get some pressure on us, if we can get the ball in her hands right away she can break the pressure by herself,” Auriemma said. “(She can) put pressure on teams getting to the rim. Defensively with Nika, she is very very disruptive against other team’s guards. We didn’t have anybody like that last year.”
“Staying fresh my mentality is just keep going and keep pushing,” Arnold said. “It is my freshman season so I have to keep that mentality of just staying fresh for those leaders or those elders as we call them.”
In order to provide all she does, Arnold has learned to value the recovery process. Her favorite way to recover is sitting in the ice tub for 10 minutes, using tik tok videos or gospel and R&B music to distract her long enough to endure the cold shock to her body_
“It is freezing cold, but it relieves pain and swelling and everything,” Arnold said. “I will go in there almost after every practice and every game. I am learning how to listen to my body and what I need.”
In today’s world filled with artificial energy derived from coffee and energy drinks, Arnold said her energy is all natural.
Her authenticity affects the team positively in a lot of ways.
“Her personality is always positive, bubbly, excited, happy,” Auriemma said. “There is no negative energy inside of her. Like I sleep all day, because I am just a bundle of negativity. But she is just (constantly going) all the time, all the time. As she grows and as she learns, she is going to be pretty spectacular.”
