Tennessee women's basketball star Talaysia Cooper transfers to Ole Miss
· Yahoo Sports
Talaysia Cooper was one of eight Tennessee women’s basketball players to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
She’s the first to find a new home.
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And she's staying in the SEC.
Ole Miss announced Wednesday that Cooper, who led the Lady Vols in scoring this past season, will spend her final year of eligibility playing for Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s Rebels.
She’s the first transfer portal addition for Ole Miss so far this offseason. McPhee-McCuin has garnered a strong reputation for being able to lure high-impact transfers to Oxford, Mississippi — landing players like Cotie McMahon, Kennedy Todd-Williams, KK Deans, Marquesha Davis and others in previous transfer windows — to fuel the Rebels’ NCAA Tournament runs.
"Talaysia is a key piece to this reload here at Ole Miss," McPhee-McCuin said in a statement. "I've known her since she was in 9th grade and I've always been a fan of her game. There's no doubt in my mind, Coop will thrive with a fresh start and reach her peak to compete at the highest level and prepare for her future as a pro."
Cooper, who was ranked as the 18th-best recruit in the 2022 class by ESPN and a McDonald's All-American, began her career at South Carolina before transferring to Tennessee. She played two seasons for Kim Caldwell’s Lady Vols, leading them in scoring each season. Cooper has twice been named an All-SEC selection and averaged 16.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.9 steals per game at Tennessee.
A 6-foot junior guard from Turbeville, South Carolina, Cooper shot 42% from the floor, 34% from 3-point land and 71% from the free throw line for Tennessee this past season.
Like the Lady Vols’ season, though, Cooper had a turbulent ending to her time in Tennessee. She was benched for the second half of their SEC Tournament loss to Alabama and walked to the bus with a team staffer while the rest of the Lady Vols were still in the locker room. Cooper bounced back to pile up 24 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in an NCAA Tournament clash against NC State, but she couldn’t stop the Lady Vols from losing their eighth consecutive game.
Cooper was one of eight Tennessee players to enter the transfer portal this offseason, joining Deniya Prawl, Alyssa Latham, Kaniya Boyd, Jaida Civil, Lauren Hurst and freshman twins Mia and Mya Pauldo.
Under the direction of McPhee-McCuin, Ole Miss has succeeded in this new era of college basketball. This season marked the Rebels’ fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and they’ve appeared in the national rankings in four of the past five seasons, rising as high as No. 12 in top 25 polls. Ole Miss has been to the Sweet 16 twice in the past five years.
McPhee-McCuin must replace her top three scorers after McMahon, Christeen Iwuala and Latasha Lattimore exhausted their eligibility after a second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Minnesota.
Landing Cooper is one step in the right direction of Ole Miss reloading for next season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tennessee women's basketball's Talaysia Cooper transfers to Ole Miss