Former Mississippi State guard Aliyah Matharu is reuniting with Vic Schaefer.
Matharu’s transfer to Texas was officially announced Tuesday afternoon by the Longhorns. The sophomore announced March 30 she intended to transfer from MSU.
“We’re very excited about having Aliyah join our Longhorn family,” Schaefer said in a news release from Texas. “She’s obviously someone I’ve recruited before and got to coach during her freshman season, and I’m excited by the opportunity to coach her again,” Schaefer said. “Aliyah started to play really well for us at the end of her freshman year. She had a big game (18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) against Arkansas and then scored 17 points in the SEC championship game. She’s someone that can score at all three levels and is able to create her own shot when she needs to.”
Matharu averaged 10.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in her sophomore season. As a freshman, she scored 7.1 points per game but played in fewer than 10 minutes per contest.
She is one of five players to leave Mississippi State this offseason after the Bulldogs missed the NCAA tournament and passed on a WNIT berth in Nikki McCray-Penson’s first season at the helm in Starkville. Yemiyah Morris transferred to West Virginia, Sidney Cooks announced she would transfer in order to attend law school, and Madison Hayes and JaMya Mingo-Young are headed elsewhere.
Matharu, meanwhile, will join a Texas team that made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament before its season ended with a 62-34 loss to No. 1 seed South Carolina. With the tournament run, Schaefer became just the ninth coach in history to lead two separate programs to the Elite Eight.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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