Hailey Van Lith spent only one college basketball season at LSU and did not quite find the success that she had hoped on the court. Angel Reese recently revealed that her former teammate also struggled to find her way within the locker room.
The Louisville transfer was the only white girl on the roster and was forced to try and fit in with a team that was coming off of a national championship the year prior while also adjusting her entire game to fit a position that was unnatural in a system that did not play to her strengths.
Needless to say, there were a lot of different dynamics surrounding Van Lith that made for a difficult year. Not all of them were as a player, necessarily.
Van Lith arrived to Baton Rouge after averaging 19.7 points per game as the primary scorer in Kentucky. Head coach Kim Mulkey moved her to a more traditional point guard role with the Tigers. It was a struggle at times and there were multiple in instances where she showed visible frustration with herself, her teammates and her coach. There was also (at least) one clear moment where Angel Reese was frustrated with Van Lith.
The position change never fully clicked. Van Lith re-entered the transfer portal after the season and landed at a program that will put her in a better position to thrive in a scoring role.
Angel Reese tried to help Hailey Van Lith.
In addition to the on-court challenges, Reese said on her podcast ‘Unapologetically Angel‘ that the team was removed from its new addition. She tried to get close with her out of guilt. The bizarre manner in which Reese presented their relationship made it sound like Van Lith was a charity case.
We weren’t, like, super close. But I was probably one of the closer people with her on the team.
I think she was really distant from everybody else, so I kinda felt bad. So I was like, “let me get close to her and like see who she is” because she was the only white girl on the team. So I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. I wanted her to feel as comfortable as she could.
— Angel Reese
Reese also talked about why Van Lith wasn’t able to thrive at LSU.
I think it just wasn’t a good fit for that specific team. She’s an amazing guard that can do so many great things on the court.
I’ve seen her kill for a long time and I know she’ll continue to kill. I’ve seen her get her confidence back.
— Angel Reese
Although Van Lith is in Fort Worth and Reese is in the league, they still stay in touch.
We still text. I still congratulate her.
I’m so happy for her at TCU. I’m going to support her there as well.
— Angel Reese
It sounds like everything is cool between them and there is no bad blood. There was never any beef.
However, based on how Angel Reese presented the dynamic, Hailey Van Lith never quite fit in with the locker room and didn’t fit into Mulkey’s system in the way they both had hoped. Onto the next!