“That’s very wrong”: Hailey Van Lith hilariously sets the record straight against a misinformed reporter
Hailey Van Lith showed out in her debut for the TCU Horned Frogs against the Houston Christian Huskies on Wednesday. The transfer guard scored 21 points in 35 minutes along with seven assists, six steals and five rebounds while shooting 42.9% from the field and 40.0% from the 3-point line.
Thanks to her versatile outing, TCU took a 6-5 lead in the first three minutes of the game and never trailed again, winning the contest 78-41.
Van Lith showcased her awareness at the postgame conference as well, when she correctly called out a reporter over misinformation on her stats. The reporter questioned HVL about how much her 3x3 training helped her play a "career-high" 35 minutes against the Huskies.
"A career high for TCU?" Van Lith responded. "35 minutes? That's wrong. That's very wrong. Maybe at LSU I didn't play 35."
Throughout her college basketball career, Hailey Van Lith has played 135 games, including her TCU debut. Out of them, she has played 35 minutes or more in 59 games, per SportsReference.
Her most lengthy outings came in her last year with the Louisville Cardinals (2022-23), where she recorded 28 such contests. She touched the 40-minute mark in 15 of those games (three NCAA contests), making her average court time 36.9 minutes throughout the season.
Despite the lack of opportunities with the LSU Tigers, Hailey Van Lith had 12 games where she was on the court for 35 minutes or more.
Why did Hailey Van Lith join the TCU Horned Frogs?
Repping purple and white at the Big 12 Media Days, Hailey Van Lith dived into the elements that made her commit to TCU. She listed her operational freedom, coach Mark Campbell’s playbook, her trust in his culture and the versatile styles of basketball in the Big 12 as her main reasons.
"I think TCU obviously is great for a lot of reasons, but the style of play that I knew we were gonna have under Coach Campbell," Van Lith said.
"Just the freedom I would have in the offense and the opportunity to showcase a lot of different abilities. I knew it would be there, I knew him for quite a while in my basketball career before this moment and he has always genuinely wanted the best for me. So, I knew that I could trust coach with my last year.
"And I think that the Big 12 is unique, is very versatile teams who play a lot of different styles of basketball. So, I think it will make me a lot better and the Big 12 will help me improve." (7:20)
Hailey Van Lith had the chance to lead the LSU Tigers this season. The program lifted the NCAA trophy in 2023 and is in a better position to contend for the title in comparison to TCU. Moreover, with Angel Reese transitioning to the WNBA, Van Lith would have had ample opportunities to be the go-to offensive player.
However, Hailey Van Lith entered the portal in April, landing with the Horned Frogs for her final year of college ball.