NCAA women's basketball season opener winners and losers: KK Arnold shines for UConn, Duke struggles to shoot

The first two days of the 2025-26 women's college basketball season are in the books, and while they can't foreshadow everything that will happen in the coming months, they do give us good insight on the current strengths and weaknesses of some of the top teams in the nation.

Although No. 1 UConn struggled mightily from beyond the arc, the Huskies still got a convincing 79-66 win against No. 20 Louisville. Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd were business as usual, but KK Arnold might deserve the biggest shoutout for how she tipped off her junior year. 

South Carolina and Texas got stronger offensively this offseason, and that was in full display during their respective season openers. Meanwhile, teams like Duke and Baylor found themselves struggling to make shots. We still haven't seen every top team take the court, but there are some clear winners and losers from the opening days.

Winner: KK Arnold as the UConn starting point guard

KK Arnold opened the season with one of the best halves of her college career and showed she is ready to take on the starting point guard role for the Huskies. She has technically been ready for a while, because she was a starter two years ago as a freshman when the Huskies were shorthanded due to injuries. However, she came off the bench last season, and now that Paige Bueckers is off to the WNBA, Arnold is embracing a bigger role again. 

Arnold finished the night with 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals, which earned her praise from Bueckers herself.

"Just the passion and intensity that she's always played with," Bueckers, who made the trip to the Naval Academy, said during an interview on the ESPN broadcast. "I was very excited for her to take ownership of the team. She's learned from Nika (Muhl), she's learned from me, she's learned from Kaitlyn Chen. For this to be her team and her time to run the team as the point guard, she is doing a great job."

Winner: MiLaysia Fulwiley's LSU debut

Although Fulwiley has not earned the starting point guard role yet, her debut with LSU should give her a lot of confidence moving forward with this new team. The South Carolina transfer registered 21 points and seven steals in the Tigers' 108-55 win over Houston Christian. 

She only started three games during her two years with Dawn Staley, but had some good moments that showed her potential. She is already known as a highly energetic and athletic player, so LSU coach Kim Mulkey said the way to get the best version of her will be to keep encouraging her as she continues to grow and find consistency.

"You know, I remember that word when I was a player, 'spark plug,' and I hated it because I came off the bench for two years," Mulkey said postgame. "'Oh, she's a spark plug,' well, okay, I'm a spark plug, but when am I going to be the engine? So, I'm very careful about how I use that with MiLaysia because her skill level and her talent is better than just a spark plug. It's our job, as she goes into her third year of college, to help her become a complete player, not one that does it in spurts or coming off the bench. The good thing is she's very unselfish. I also have a team there that's very unselfish."

Loser: UCLA's focus

Despite a 77-53 win against San Diego State, the No. 3 Bruins had a lackluster performance on both sides of the court. UCLA was off to a slow start and only scored 12 points in the first quarter. The team was eventually able to pull away, but coach Cori Close wants to see more from her players as they get ready to face one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. 

"Honestly, it was flat all the way around," Close said. "I didn't think that we had a focus defensively.... I think it's a good wake-up call, and to say, 'You know what, if we don't commit to the little championship-level standards and habits every day, anything can happen.' And I didn't think we played near to our potential on either side of the ball."

While the team as a whole will need to come out stronger, there were definitely some bright spots on Monday. Lauren Betts, one of the top Player of the Year candidates, took care of business by leading UCLA with 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting. Another highlight was Gabriela Jaquez, who did a little bit of everything for the Bruins and finished the night with 15 points on 6-10 shooting and a game-high 11 rebounds, along with five assists.

Winner: The Texas offense

Vic Schaefer has been talking about the Texas offense getting stronger, and the Longhorns gave us a glimpse of that potential in a 123-51 win against Incarnate Word. Six Texas players scored in double figures, with Jordan Lee registering a team-high 21 points while shooting 64.3% from the field. She is one of the players Schaefer said he expects to make a big jump, and that performance was a good way to tip off her sophomore year. She had three of the Longhorns' seven 3-pointers, which is an area Texas struggled with last season. Madison Booker was the team's second leading scorer with 18 points while shooting over 54% from the floor.

Breya Cunningham was another productive player with 16 points -- she went 7 of 7 from the field and neared a double-double with eight rebounds, in addition to three blocks. Kyla Oldacre also shot a perfect 7 of 7 en route to 17 points while coming off the bench. Freshman Aaliyah Crump scored 16 points in her college debut, and sophomore Bryanna Preston also got 16 points, which is her new career high.

Loser: Duke and Baylor's offense

No. 7 Duke vs. No. 16 Baylor was our first top 25 matchup of the season but the game left a lot to be desired with both teams struggling to make shots. Duke shot 29% from the field and ultimately lost 58-52. Baylor didn't shoot much better at 31.7% from the field. The fourth quarter was particularly rough for the Blue Devils as they couldn't hit a field goal in the first four minutes and ultimately got outscored 15-9.

"Tough game for us," Duke coach Kara Lawson said postgame. "Just struggled to score, especially in the second half.... Disappointed to lose the game, but obviously the first game of the year you're trying to figure out where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are, what you need to do to improve. So this will give us a lot of film to look at and get back to Durham and try to get better."

The bright spot for Duke was sophomore Toby Fournier leading the team with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Baylor's leading scorer was Taliah Scott with 24 points, while Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had 10 points and 10 rebounds. 

Winner: NC State's youth

No. 9 NC State got an 80-77 win over No. 8 Tennessee in one of the best season openers. Wes Moore said this is the first time the Wolfpack has not had a senior on the team, but this young roster has already put the nation on notice. It was by no means a perfect game, as there were certainly some breakdowns in communication, but the experience was certainly beneficial.

Vanderbilt transfer Khalil Pierre had a strong NC State debut with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Zoe Brooks also got a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Tilda Trigger flirted with one with 19 points and 8 boards. Zamarey Jones was the fourth starter to reach double figures with 18 points. 

"Just really proud. It's a great way to start the season," Moore said. "When you first schedule games like this, you think, 'What was I thinking?' But when you are able to survive it and get a dub, feels pretty good."

Winner: The efficiency of South Carolina's guards

South Carolina's bench made the Gamecocks extremely dangerous last season, but the starters are the ones who got the job done in a 94-54 win over Grand Canyon. The guards had a particularly bright spotlight on them because of the addition of Florida State transfer Ta'Niyah Latson, who led the nation in scoring last season. She had a great debut with the Gamecocks with 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field. 

Junior guard Tessa Johnson was also a top contributor with 19 points on 61.5% shooting. Meanwhile, Raven Johnson is coming off the worst season of her career, but she bounced back in the season opener by flirting with a triple-double with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. 

"I'm impressed with the efficiency part of it," Dawn Staley said. "They are very, very efficient. More likely, they are getting some layups, like you can't just be a jump shooter. They are attacking the basket, they are getting layups. They are on a pretty good rhythm and they practice that way. They practice like it's a game. So when it's game time it's just the same type of rhythm."