Hailey Van Lith will be a Horned Frog.
Talia Goodman of Next Hoops originally reported that the point guard, who started her college career at Louisville and played this season at LSU, is moving to TCU.
Van Lith averaged 11.6 points and 3.6 assists per game for LSU this season.
Her scoring total was lower than the previous year at Lousville, when she averaged 15.4 points per game, because she was on a team with fewer scoring talent and thus more shot attempts.
Van Lith’s final impression at LSU was her inability to control Caitlin Clark in the Elite Eight, when LSU met Iowa in a rematch of last season’s national championship game, and Clark avenged the previous loss by scoring 41 points, including nine three-pointers.
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey addressed Van Lith’s choice to use the transfer portal during a team dinner over the weekend.
“Her aspirations were to get drafted this year, and she realized, ‘I need another year and I need to go back to a place where I can relax and get back to my normal position,” Mulkey said in an interview with Nola.com. “So what do you do? You hug her and wish her well.
“She wanted to improve her strengths by coming to LSU with a goal of expanding her game by learning a position that I played my entire life because she knows at the next level that’s her only chance – to be able to tell them somewhat, ‘I can handle the ball if you need me to.'”
Mulkey described Van Lith as “one of the hardest working players that I’ve ever coached”.
Van Lith had been linked to Mississippi State after playing under the Bulldogs’ head coach, Sam Purcell, at Louisville.
Former Miami star Haley Cavinder revealed in November that she would play for TCU in the 2024-25 season after taking a year off from basketball.
Earlier this week, Cavinder’s twin sister, Hanna, declared that she would be returning to Miami after earlier claiming that she was done playing basketball.
Given the current condition of NIL and the transfer portal, it wouldn’t be unexpected if Haley ended up rejoining her twin at Miami next season.
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