Report: Hailey Van Lith transferring to TCU

One of the nation’s most recognizable women’s college basketball talents — Hailey Van Lith — is reportedly headed to Big 12 country for her final collegiate season.

Van Lith, who played the past season for the LSU Tigers, is transferring to TCU, The Next Hoops’ insider Talia Goodman first reported Thursday morning.

Van Lith starred for three seasons at Louisville before joining LSU last offseason, bolstering an already loaded Tigers team that was coming off winning the national championship.

She averaged 11.6 points, 3.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game for the Tigers during the 2023-24 campaign.

Just days after LSU lost to Iowa in the NCAA Tournament Elite 8, though, reports surfaced about Van Lith entering the transfer portal again.

She’ll have one year of eligibility remaining, thanks to the free COVID-19 year granted by the NCAA.

Following LSU’s Sweet 16 win over UCLA this year, Van Lith said victories were more important than individual accolades to her.

“At the end of the day, I’m just trying to make winning plays,” Van Lith said, as the Deseret News previously reported. “I would rather be known as a winner than a scorer, because at the end of the day, if all you’re going to ask me to do is score, that’s something that I can definitely do. I think at this point it’s about making winning plays.”

The Athletic listed Van Lith as the No. 9 player nationally in the transfer portal prior to her reported decision.

“Van Lith’s body of work at LSU wasn’t necessarily eye-popping, but she has the overall resume to be a top-10 transfer portal recruit, especially if (or when) she lands at a program that allows her to move back to her natural off-ball guard position,” The Athletic’s Chantel Jennings wrote.

“Her shooting percentage dropped this season at every level, but she has proven abilities that can work in the right system. Van Lith averaged 19.7 points per game as a junior at Louisville, scoring nearly half of her points as a spot-up shooter or as the ballhandler in pick-and-rolls, according to Synergy. Van Lith still has the chance to be a high-impact player in her fifth year.”

LSU coach Kim Mulkey addressed Van Lith’s decision to enter the transfer portal recently following a team banquet.

“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 explained, according to NOLA.com.

“And what do you do? You hug her, and you wish her well.”

For a little over an hour, it appeared Van Lith would be joining another well-known transfer, guard Haley Cavinder, at TCU.

Cavinder has previously announced she would be transferring from Miami to TCU after a year hiatus from the game, but on Thursday just before 11 a.m., Cavinder announced on social media that she will be returning to Miami for her final season, along with twin sister Hanna.

Still, TCU will have several talented players surrounding Van Lith.

The Horned Frogs will return the team’s two leading scorers next season in center Sedona Prince (19.7 points, 9.7 rebounds) and guard Madison Conner (19.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists).

TCU advanced to the WBIT second round and finished with a 21-12 record this past season.

Both Utah and BYU will have their opportunities to face Van Lith in her lone season at TCU.

The Cougars joined the Big 12 last season and twice played TCU, losing both games.

The Utes, meanwhile, are joining the conference with the dissolution of the Pac-12. Utah is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, where it reached the second round.