The reigning national champions of women’s college basketball just got better.
Kayleigh Heckel, arguably the best player remaining in the transfer portal at this point in the calendar, announced on her Instagram on Tuesday night that she has committed to UConn.
The former USC guard was being courted by the likes of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Michigan State, as well as the Huskies. She now joins a backcourt rotation that already features the likes of Azzi Fudd and KK Arnold, and gives a major boost to the Huskies’ chances of repeating as national champs.
“k9 by name, husky by nature. see you in storrs! go huskiess,” Heckel wrote on Instagram.
The native of Port Chester, New York, was tabbed as a five-star prospect and the 13th-best recruit in her 2024 class by ESPN. Out of high school, she signed with USC over Alabama, Stanford and Tennessee, while also holding offers from Princeton, Columbia, Ohio State and Texas Tech.
A 5-foot-9 guard, Heckel didn’t have a big role with USC in the regular season this past year, but consistently saw minutes off the bench and showed her talent and potential a few times, like when she tallied 10 points, four assists and three rebounds in a win at Maryland. In the NCAA Tournament though, she stepped up in a big way when JuJu Watkins suffered a season-ending injury against Mississippi State. Heckel finished that game with 13 points, six assists and two steals as the Trojans won.
Heckel finished her freshman campaign by averaging 6.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor in 16.9 minutes per game.
“It’s hard to be a freshman point guard on a team that has championship aspirations, but I want her to be her as much as possible,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after Heckel’s performance against Mississippi State. “We know how talented she is. Essentially the initial defender doesn’t exist. She can get by anybody. I think her growth has come in reads.”
Heckel was one of four players to leave USC this offseason via the transfer portal, along with Avery Howell (Washington), Dominique Darius (Syracuse), and Aaliyah Gayles (Utah State). The Trojans’ loss is the Huskies’ gain, and Heckel will have the chance to show her old team what they’re missing out on when UConn travels to Los Angeles to play USC this upcoming season in the return game of a home-and-home series.
