Koi Love, a 6-foot sophomore forward who was an SEC All-Freshman selection at Vanderbilt in 2019-20, announced her transfer to Arizona on Wednesday.
Her addition presently puts Arizona coach Adia Barnes at her limit of 15 scholarship players for the 2021-22 season.
Love averaged a team-high 20.8 points and 9.5 rebounds in eight games this season for the Commodores, who discontinued their season because of COVID-19 opt-outs and injuries that depleted the roster.
Her acquisition will help the transition of losing power forward Trinity Baptiste, who announced Tuesday she is moving on from Arizona’s program after earning her master’s degree in Entrepreneurship this spring.
The Vanderbilt program is in disarray after it retained coach Stephanie White last month and then fired her on Tuesday.
Love, who is from Orlando, will have three years of eligibility at Arizona and it should be immediate given that Vanderbilt essentially canceled its season. She started all of the Commodores’ eight games and had four double-doubles.
She scored a season-high 32 points with eight rebounds in Vanderbilt’s last game Jan. 17 at No. 12 Kentucky.
Love arrived at Vandy in 2019 with high recruiting marks including the 89th-best recruit by ESPNHoopGurlz and 40th-best recruit by ProspectsNation, She was one of 50 high schoolers named to prestigious 2019 Naismith High School Girls’ Watch List.
— Koi (@koilove10) April 7, 2021
White told VanderbiltHustler.com last October that Love’s “ceiling is just so high.”
“She has worked incredibly hard on her shot in the offseason,” White said. “She’s somebody that if I had a scouting report, I’d say, ‘let her shoot the jump shot, whether it’s contested or uncontested, as opposed to letting her get to the rim.’
“She worked really, really hard on her shot over the season. It looks better, it looks more fluid, it’s more consistent.”
Love shot 47.1 percent from the field in her two seasons at Vandy.
Arizona’s projected roster entering 2021-22 as it stands now:
Arizona Wildcats 2021-22 Roster
| Name | Pos | Ht. | Yr. | Pts | Reb | Ast | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cate Reese | F | 6-2 | Jr. | 11.2 | 5.2 | 0.6 | 24.6 |
| Sam Thomas | F | 6-0 | Sr. | 7.5 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 32.0 |
| Shaina Pellington | G | 5-8 | Jr. | 5.4 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 15.1 |
| Bendu Yeaney | G | 5-10 | Jr. | 4.0 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 23.3 |
| Lauren Ware | F | 6-3 | Fr. | 4.0 | 3.9 | 0.3 | 16.2 |
| Helena Pueyo | G | 6-0 | Soph. | 3.7 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 21.7 |
| Madison Conner | G | 5-11 | Fr. | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 5.5 |
| Derin Erdogan | G | 5-6 | Fr. | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 3.8 |
| Semaj Smith | C | 6-6 | Jr. | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 5.9 |
| Aaronette Vonleh | C | 6-3 | Fr. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Anna Gret Asi | G | 5-10 | Fr. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Koi Love | F | 6-0 | Soph. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Gisela Sanchez | F | 6-3 | Fr. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Taylor Chavez | G | 5-10 | Jr. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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