Sarah Strong, KK Arnold, Kiki Irafien and others react as UConn's Kayleigh Heckel shares training snaps ahead of debut for Geno Auriemma

UConn Huskies guard Kayleigh Heckel is heading into her second season of college basketball. She spent her first season with the USC Trojans before transferring to the Huskies during the offseason. As a freshman, she averaged 6.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

Now that Heckel is on the Huskies, she is training to help them repeat as national champions. On Friday, she posted several images on Instagram from her summer training.

"First summer in stores," Heckel wrote.

Sarah Strong, KK Arnold and many others reacted in the comments.

"I KNOW DATS RIGHT," KK Arnold wrote.

"Ayeeeeee," Sarah Strong commented.

"Baby Heck!!!" Kiki Iriafen added.

Members of the college basketball world continued to react in the comments.

"Love youuu," Morgan Chili wrote.

"Summer timeee," Ashlynn Shade commented.

"Miss you twinyy," Rian Forestier added.

Images via the comments of Kayleigh Heckel's Instagram post.

Kayleigh Heckel explains why she transferred to UConn after one season at USC

When Kayleigh Heckel transferred from USC to UConn, it came as a bit of a surprise. The young star performed well coming off the bench last season and looked poised to take on a bigger role in 2025-26. However, rather than continue with the Trojans, she chose to join the reigning national champions.

On Tuesday, Heckel appeared at Werth Champions Center and spoke with reporters about her decision to transfer to Geno Auriemma's squad.

"It's the place I need to be, and it's the place that I think I can become the best version of myself," Heckel said.

Heckel also discussed the fact that she grew up as a UConn fan. So, when the opportunity arose to join her childhood team, she could not resist. She went on to speak about what she loves about the program and her excitement to join it.

"Just like the history of it, and obviously, like, the coaching staff is super-successful, and they've had so much success here," Heckel said. "I'm just really hoping to be part of that and hoping to bring a national championship to UConn as well."

Heckel announced in May that she had committed to UConn and would be leaving USC. She chose to join her childhood favorite team over offers from Notre Dame, Michigan State and Vanderbilt.

Heckel will be joining a UConn Huskies squad that will be trying to defend its national championship. However, it will do so with a much different roster. Most notably, superstar Paige Bueckers departed for the WNBA.