Lopez Senechal Keeping Huskies Together
The Story: The UConn women, up to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, will play the season’s final game at the XL Center tonight when they host St. John’s (SNY, 7 p.m.).
IT’S LOU TO YOU: One of the unexpected bright spots this season has been the emergence of Lou Lopez Senechal, a grad transfer from Fairfield who has admirably stepped into a role as a perimeter scorer with so many of her teammates injured.
• Lopez Senechal is averaging 16.3 points per game on 47.5 percent shooting, and an elite 45.9 percent 3-point shooting, through 28 games. She’s tied with Aaliyah Edwards for second in scoring behind Azzi Fudd, who has only played nine games this season and is averaging 17.9 points per game.
• According to the advanced metrics, Lopez Senechal is averaging 20.2 points per 40 minutes, which puts her in the 94th percentile in Division I. She’s also averaging 1.03 points per play, which has her in the 97th percentile, and 1.18 points per scoring attempt, which is the 93rd percentile.
• Lopez Senechal averaged 16.1 points in 99 games at Fairfield, including 19.5 last season to lead the MAAC en route to being named its Player of the Year. Still, it can be hard to measure how the production at a lesser conference will measure up to what she’d face at UConn, leading to questions about how she’d handle the transition.
COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH: Lopez Senechal has reached double digits in scoring in 26 of 28 games for the Huskies and has had 20 or more points in nine games.
• She has led the Huskies in scoring eight times, including in each of their last two games and in their Jan. 12 meeting at St. John’s. She is notably averaging 15.2 points in games against ranked teams — she had a season-high 26 in the win at Tennessee on Jan. 26 — and that’s impressive given she’s played in nine of those games after matching up against the likes of Canisius, Niagara and Rider for four years.
• With all that said, what’s her weakness? She’s a physical player who isn’t afraid of contact, which means she often finds herself in foul trouble. She has committed 69 fouls and has picked up at least four fouls in seven games and has fouled out twice in her last five outings.
IS THE WNBA CALLING? One of the main reasons why Lopez Senechal chose to transfer to UConn was to test herself against better competition so she could position herself for a career playing basketball professionally — and not just in Europe.
• That decision may pay off, as she was projected to be a first-round pick, alongside Dorka Juhasz, in ESPN’s latest mock draft, which was published on Feb. 8.
WHAT DID GENO AURIEMMA SAY? “For somebody who just came into our program in June, I think she’s been absolutely remarkable. I know we’re missing a lot of good players, but if we don’t have Lou, I’d hate to think of where we’d be.”
ABOUT ST. JOHN’S: The Red Storm (19-7, 10-7 Big East) lost 82-52 in the teams’ first meeting but enter tonight’s game fifth in the conference standings.
• They’ve lost four of their last six games and are led in scoring by Pittsburgh transfer Jayla Everett, who had a game-high 17 points against UConn the first time out.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• Joey Calcaterra‘s father, Rich, hasn’t been home in more than two months, part of an odyssey that has him enjoying his son’s final college games for the now No. 18-ranked men’s basketball team. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
• The baseball team had to settle for a split in its season-opening four-game series with Ohio State yesterday morning as it was doomed by a five-run fifth inning. (UConnHuskies.com)
• UNC-Wilmington announced yesterday it has hired Michael Oblinger, who is one of UConn’s deputy directors of athletics, as its athletic director. (Wilmington Star-News)
• Even though it didn’t play last weekend, the men’s hockey team fell from No. 14 to No. 16 in the rankings. (USCHO.com)
• A weekend sweep of Holy Cross to close the regular season wasn’t enough to lift the women’s hockey team back into the national rankings. (USCHO.com)
Top photo: Lou Lopez Senechal dribbles the ball in the Huskies’ game against Texas. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
