Former LSU point guard Hailey Van Lith has decided which school she’s playing for next. According to Talia Goodman of The Next, Van Lith is transferring to TCU.
Van Lith, 22, was with LSU for just one season. She entered the transfer portal on April 4, just three days after LSU lost to Iowa in the Elite Eight. She spent the first three years of her college career at Louisville, then headed to LSU after the Tigers’ national championship in April 2023. She has one year of eligibility left.
In her one season at LSU, Van Lith was a bit uneven. She was less effective as a shooter with her FG% decreasing from down .411 in 2022-23 to .388 this past season. After averaging 19.7 points per game in her junior year at Louisville, at LSU this year she averaged just 11.6. Part of that is likely due to a change in position. With LSU, she was a starting point guard for the first time, and one of the team’s primary ball-handlers. That was an adjustment, and it showed in her numbers.
Van Lith hasn’t spoken about her decision to transfer, but her former coach at LSU, Kim Mulkey, offered some insight into what Van Lith is thinking.
“Her aspirations were to get drafted this year,” Mulkey said via NOLA.com, “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 also noted how Van Lith had sought to challenge herself by expanding her skill set, coming to LSU to specifically learn from Mulkey about being a starting point guard.
“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,” Mulkey said, “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 did also express support for Van Lith, even as she exits the program.
“Hailey Van Lith is one of the hardest working players that I’ve ever coached,” Mulkey said.
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