UConn hooper KK Arnold shares wholesome snaps on teammate Ashlynn Shade's special day

UConn guard Ashlynn Shade was a key cog in the dominant Huskies team that won the Big East regular season and tournament titles, coupled with the national championship. For her contributions from the bench, Shade was named the Big East Sixth Woman of the Year last season.

Shade celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday, and she received birthday wishes from her UConn teammate KK Arnold, who reposted snaps of the duo on the court together on her Instagram stories. Arnold captioned the post:

"Happy birthday Ashhh!! Big 21!! Love you."

Arnold's IG stories

Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold have been close since they joined the Huskies in 2023 and have regularly celebrated each other's achievements with wholesome posts on various social media platforms.

Ashlynn Shade aims for new role in UConn setup

During her freshman season, Ashlyn Shade was a starter for a shorthanded team that had injuries to key players like guard Azzi Fudd. Shade was also a starter at the beginning of her sophomore season (12 of 17 starts) before becoming a reliable bench option for coach Geno Auriemma.

As a freshman, Shade averaged 11.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 31.4 minutes per game, but due to her reduced role as a sophomore, her numbers dipped to 7.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game.

During an interview with "CT Insider" on Monday, Ashlynn Shade revealed that she was aiming for more of a leadership role alongside seniors like the returning Azzi Fudd and KK Arnold next season.

"The biggest thing that I want to challenge myself with this year is being another leader for this team, being a vocal leader on and off the court," Ashlynn Shade said. "Having experience, being an upperclassman now, it puts me into a position to guide the younger guys and be another voice people can turn to. "I know the coaches emphasize me, KK, Caroline and Azzi are the ones with the most experience and being that voice with a new leadership. So we're trying to do our best to carry on that leadership and not letting it slip."

Despite only playing for two full college basketball seasons, Ashlyn Shade has the most minutes logged (2,086) on the court of the 10 returning UConn players. She even has more than Fudd, who joined two years before she did (2,084 minutes), and despite KK Arnold playing more games (79), Shade still has 58 more minutes played.

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Edited by John Maxwell