UConn Huskies' Katie Lou Samuelson is espnW's player of the week

Mechelle Voepel

Feb 19, 2018, 12:31 AM ET

Editor's note: Charlie Creme, Graham Hays and Mechelle Voepel each vote to determine espnW's national player of the week, which is awarded every week of the women's college basketball season.

UConn junior Katie Lou Samuelson jokes that sometimes she misses the "old days." You know, back in 2015-16 when she was a freshman and Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck were the Huskies' do-everything stars.

"All I had to do was stand in the corner and make 3s," Samuelson said with a laugh. "Stewie, Mo and Tuck did all the other work. But each year, as teams have started to key on me more, I've had no choice but to expand my game and try to do more and more. This year, I've tried to do as much as I can in impacting games."

Samuelson is the espnW player of the week after big performances in a national spotlight win over No. 4 Louisville last Monday and one of those machine-like blowouts against Temple on Sunday.

The top-ranked and unbeaten Huskies try to play with the same precision in all their games, regardless of the caliber of foe. This past week was another example, and Samuelson led the way.

She was a huge factor in helping the Huskies get a big lead early against the Cardinals that they comfortably held on to in a 69-58 win, despite wearing down in the second half. She finished with 26 points and three assists in playing all 40 minutes, and coach Geno Auriemma said afterward he'd been sure that Samuelson would have a good game just by how confident she seemed beforehand.

That confidence had increased steadily in her three seasons at UConn.

"I've been having really good practices, and I'm shooting the ball well," Samuelson said. "I think my passing has gotten a lot better. I've taken pride in trying to make the right pass and get the ball to my teammates when teams are trying to jump out at me on the 3-point line."

But damage she does from behind the arc is still her calling card. She made 4 of 9 3-pointers against Louisville. Then Sunday, she was 4 of 5 from long range, and 9 of 11 overall from the field, in scoring 27 points in a 106-45 rout of Temple. She also had five of UConn's 31 assists.

"One of our biggest strengths is really pushing it: running our offense quickly and trying to get a good shot," Samuelson said. "Our transition is really good, but our secondary offense right out of transition is probably the best for us. Teams can't match up as quickly when we run a play right out of transition. Someone's gonna be open."

And when that's Samuelson, that's usually bad news for opponents.

Also nominated: Marie Gulich, Oregon State; Ruthy Hebard, Oregon; Gadiva Hubbard, Minnesota