Hailey Van Lith may stay in the SEC as she explores her options in the NCAA transfer portal. The senior guard is taking a visit to Mississippi State this weekend, according to The Next Hoops’ Talia Goodman.
Van Lith is in the transfer portal for the second consecutive offseason. She also considered declaring for the WNBA draft but opted to stay in college, where her scoring talent figures to make her a popular target among national championship contenders.
Mississippi State was not among the schools many observers predicted as a destination for Van Lith. The Bulldogs finished seventh in the SEC last season at 8–8 (23–12 overall). However, she played under coach Sam Purcell for two seasons while he was an assistant at Louisville and could make an immediate impact.
Van Lith also looked at Stanford and South Carolina before moving from Louisville to LSU for the 2023-24 campaign. The belief was that she transferred to Baton Rouge for a better opportunity to play for a national championship under coach Kim Mulkey.
However, Van Lith wasn’t an ideal fit in the LSU lineup. More of a natural shooting guard than point guard, she struggled looking to score alongside Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson and Annesah Morrow. As a result, her scoring average dropped from 19.7 points per game at Louisville to 11.5 with LSU. Her 85 turnovers also indicate the difficulties she had being more of a distributor.
Van Lith’s challenges were most apparent during the NCAA tournament, in which she scored fewer than five points in each of the Tigers’ four games. Against Rice, Van Lith scored three points. She tallied four versus Middle Tennessee and two against UCLA. And in the Elite Eight showdown with Iowa, Van Lith scored only three points while being tasked as the primary defender on Caitlin Clark, who scored 41 points.
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