BYU women’s basketball excited for first season in the Big 12

Wednesday marks the start of a new era for BYU women’s basketball when the Cougars play Westminster in an exhibition game at the Marriott Center to start off their inaugural Big 12 season.

BYU is coming off its first losing season since 2007, but head coach Amber Whiting is relishing the opportunity of being considered an underdog.

“I’m excited to see what we can do,” Whiting said. “I like where we are picked because I feel like being the underdog lets us have a little motivation and fire in our bellies.”

Whiting said this in response to the media picking BYU to finish 11th in the conference in the Big 12 preseason poll. The only teams picked to finish lower were fellow newcomers Houston and Cincinnati, with UCF picked last.

Returning Talent

Lauren Gustin returns at the helm after averaging career highs in both points (16.1) and rebounds (16.7). Gustin is currently on several award watchlists and will look to build on her record-breaking season. BYU also returns sharpshooters Kaylee Smiler and Nani Falatea at the guard positions.

Newcomers

The Cougars will also welcome many new faces to the team to bolster the depth. These new faces include highly coveted recruits Kailey Woolston and Amari Whiting, Coach Whiting’s daughter. This added depth should help the team’s ability to push the tempo and contribute to the new style of offense that has been implemented throughout the offseason.

“All of them have come in and really done well, especially the freshmen,” Gustin said of the newcomers. “They want to work hard, and you see them putting in a lot of work off the court. Behind the scenes, they are always getting up extra shots and they’ve all done really well.”

This bodes well for a team that has lost some pieces over the past couple of offseasons to the transfer portal and will look to quickly develop these new players to contribute significant minutes. One of these players that transferred includes Shaylee Gonzales, who played for the Cougars from 2018-2022 before transferring to Texas. BYU will have a chance to compete against Gonzales on March 2 when the Cougars travel to Austin for the last game of the regular season.

BYU is eager to get the season underway and will look to get off on the right foot when the Cougars play Westminster at home this Wednesday at 3 p.m.