Shaylee Gonzales to next play basketball at Texas as Longhorns continue offseason makeover
When speaking last month about securing his third offseason commitment from the transfer portal, Texas basketball coach Vic Schaefer insisted that “I might not be done.” He was not bluffing.
On Monday, former BYU star Shaylee Gonzales announced to her 84,000 followers on Instagram that she will next play basketball at Texas. A 5-10 guard, Gonzales has two years of eligibility remaining.
Gonzales’ pledge is the equivalent of a slam dunk for Texas. Last season, Gonzales was named the West Coast Conference’s Player of the Year. She also split that award during the 2020-21 season. Like new Texas teammate Rori Harmon, Gonzales earned an honorable mention nod on the Associated Press’ All-American team this March.
An Arizona native, Gonzales spent four seasons at BYU. Her 2019-20 season was wiped out by a medical redshirt and a knee injury, but Gonzales still played in 88 games with the Cougars. Gonzales averaged 17.7 points per game and her 1,555 career points are the No. 10 total in BYU’s history.
During the 2021-22 season, Gonzales’ 18.3 points per game ranked third in the WCC. She also distributed 4.5 assists per game for a BYU team that went 26-4 and was ranked as high as 16th in the AP poll. During the 2021-22 season, Gonzales had a 35-point game against Saint Mary’s and a 13-assist game against Pepperdine.
“She can score in so many ways — on the drive, on the pull-up and on jump shots. She gets offensive rebounds and putbacks and defensively, she makes steals and layups,” former BYU coach Jeff Judkins told the Deseret News in January.
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In recent months, Texas has accepted transfers from Gonzales, guard Sonya Morris (DePaul), forward Taylor Jones (Oregon State) and center Khadija Faye (Texas Tech). Three of those transfers − Gonzales, Morris and Jones − averaged at least 12 points per game last season. Both Jones and Faye grabbed over six rebounds per contest during their injury-shortened campaigns. Gonzales and Morris were first-team honorees on their all-conference teams.
This quartet of transfers and high school signees Jordana Codio, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Amina Muhammad will help UT plug the holes on its roster. This offseason, Texas has lost six players to either graduation or the transfer portal. (Reserve guard Ashley Chevalier also left the program in December and has since joined the basketball team at Texas Tech.)
Those departed Longhorns accounted for 60.2% of the team’s scoring and 53.3% of UT’s rebounding during the 2021-22 season. Of the five players who earned at least 650 minutes of playing time as Texas reached the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, only Harmon is still a Longhorn.
Last week, Inside Texas reported that Aliyah Matharu had entered the transfer portal. Matharu's name has also been removed from the team’s online roster. Matharu led Texas last season with her 12.0 points per game. She was the only Longhorn to make more than 30 3-pointers.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas picked as destination for BYU basketball star Shaylee Gonzales
