Now 'on the right side,' Khadija Faye shines in complementary role for Texas basketball

Last January, Khadija Faye showed up to the Erwin Center with a shoulder brace.

Then a sophomore center for Texas Tech, Faye had dislocated her shoulder a couple of weeks before the trip to Austin. She was playing through pain and couldn't shoot. Her coaches asked her to just play defense and rebound against the Longhorns, who were No. 9 in the country.

Over 18 minutes, Faye grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots. Texas Tech recorded a stunning 74-61 win.

"She gave us that work," Texas forward Aaliyah Moore recalled.

Faye has since transferred to Texas, so Moore joked this week that she's glad her teammate and roommate "came to the right side." During her first season with the Longhorns, Faye is averaging 7.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. She has recorded double-double performances against Jackson State, Houston Christian and Texas A&M-Commerce.

She also has started in each of UT's last five games. Her increase in playing time has come as Texas has dealt with Moore's season-ending knee injury and a prolonged absence from junior forward Taylor Jones.

"I think playing time has really helped her and she's just going to continue to get better and better," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "She's really gotten an opportunity and she's really taken advantage of it. I'm really happy for her. She's a great kid."

The 6-foot-4 Faye can score. She's shooting 59.6% from the field. Last year at Tech, she had a 22-point game against Texas State, an 18-point effort at TCU and a 15-point outing against Georgia. Three weeks ago, she scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting in a 107-54 win over Alabama State.

Texas, though, doesn't need Faye's offense. There are four active players on the roster who are averaging at least 10 points per game. When Jones returns from her lower body injury, that number will be five.

Following an 87-41 beating of Kansas State this past Saturday, Schaefer pointed out that Faye was "super active defensively" with her three steals and five rebounds. Faye, who Moore described as a "fireball," also set DeYona Gaston up for the first points of the game with a nice pass by the basket.

"I want to, of course, score and do all that, but we already have people that score, you know?" Faye said. "Each person on this team, I feel has a role. For me, I know that coach really wants me to be on the boards and I'm good at it. Since I'm successful at it, I will just do that to help the team."

Faye grew up in Senegal, and soccer was originally her sport of choice. "I was a good goalie," she boasts.

Lured by the shoes and her friends, Faye eventually gave basketball a try when she was 12. Two years later, she moved to a boarding school in Florida. As one of the top forwards in the 2020 recruiting class, she signed with Texas Tech over schools like Oklahoma, West Virginia and Miami.

Faye appeared in 38 games over her two seasons in Lubbock, but said she didn't feel like her potential was being met. After electing to transfer, she picked Texas in part because of Schaefer's history with coaching post players. Faye wants to play professionally and says the WNBA is a dream. Charli Collier and Teaira McCowan are recent top-three picks who played for Schaefer at Texas and Mississippi State.

"I wanted to get better," Faye said. "I love the style of play of Texas, their speed and everything, how physical they are, how they have professional basketball players after they leave college."

With her transfer, Faye joined a growing number of players who have recently taken advantage of new NCAA rules and moved within the Big 12. Kansas State guard Gabby Gregory, who leads the conference in scoring, played at Oklahoma last year. Texas Tech reserve Ashley Chevalier is a former Longhorn. TCU's Bre'Yon White (Oklahoma), Oklahoma's Aubrey Joens (Iowa State) and West Virginia's Tavy Diggs (TCU) also were at another Big 12 school last season.

Schaefer, in his 18th year as a head coach, has emphatically stated that he is not a fan of players transferring within conferences. However, it also didn't take much to convince him to sign Faye.

"I had already seen enough," Schaefer said. "I've experienced it first-hand."

Faye signed over the summer and has started to get comfortable in Austin. She has a favorite restaurant in Cava. She's bonded with UT center Femme Masudi, who's from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the first fellow African that Faye has had as a teammate.

While at Texas, Faye is studying health promotion. She speaks four languages and wants to learn Spanish and hopes to eventually return to Senegal as either a nurse or gynecologist. An alternate plan is to raise funds so that the villages back home have access to proper health care.

"I grew up from the city because my dad moved to the city, but when I went to visit my grandparents and stuff, I'd always see when people get sick," she explained. ❝They say, ❛Oh, we have to travel far, far to get treatments and stuff.❜ Then you always see on the news women that lost their life or the baby. It's something very common back home. This is something that needs to be done, and I just felt like me or other people, they should step up or do something for our country.❞

For now, the future for Faye — whether that involves a professional basketball career or health care — can wait. Right now she's focused on UT's season.

The Longhorns (10-4, 1-0 Big 12), who have won seven straight games, are unranked but did receive votes in both of the most recent AP and USA Today coaches polls. Texas travels to TCU (6-6, 0-1) on Wednesday and then to Oklahoma State (10-3, 0-1) on Saturday.

Wednesday's game

Texas (10-4, 1-0) at TCU (6-6, 0-1), 6:30 p.m., ESPN+, 105.3

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: From Texas Tech to Texas, Khadia Faye has her dreams, goals in focus