- Outspoken TCU guard Hailey Van Lith opened up about her struggles with mental health and suicide after her team’s win on Sunday. TCU beat Van Lith’s former team, Louisville, to advance.
- It’s Van Lith’s fifth trip to the Sweet 16 in her five college seasons. She previously went with Louisville and, last year, with LSU.
- Van Lith says her faith helped her get through hard times during her youth and early college days.
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TCU’s Hailey Van Lith has always been an outspoken basketball player, whether it’s trash-talking an opponent or being honest about what happened during a game. However, she has also been open about her journey and personal struggles off the court.
Why was Van Lith struggling with her mental health?
On Sunday night, March 23, after posting a double-double with 16 points and 10 assists to beat her former team, Louisville, Van Lith was the most revealing she’s been in her five seasons in college basketball. She described thoughts of suicide and her battle with mental health throughout her youth and the early part of her college career.
“When I say that I got exposed to media –– social media, at such a young age –– I really struggled with mental health things,” Van Lith said. “When I was younger and in college, I was suicidal, I was heavily medicated, and I felt trapped. And you would never know because I was having a ton of success on the court. But internally, and in life in general, I was ready to be done. And so, that’s what I mean when I speak on suffering and pain…I didn’t want to live.”
How many times has she been to the Sweet 16?
The Cashmere, Washington native, whose 19 NCAA Tournament games are the most by an active player, is back in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time over three different college stops. Between 2021 and 2023, she went to a Final Four and two other Elite Eight games with Louisville and reached another Elite Eight with LSU last season. Her coach, Mark Campbell, says Van Lith is showing his team how it’s done.
“So proud of this group to accomplish something that’s never been done here, men or women,” Campbell said. “To make it to the Sweet 16 is really, really hard to do. Somehow, Hailey just seems to do it every year. So it’s normal for her; for everybody else, it’s not normal.”
What keeps Van Lith going?
Van Lith had a special bond with Kobe Bryant, training with the NBA legend and his daughter Gigi before they and seven others were killed in a 2020 helicopter crash. Through tears during Sunday’s post-game press conference, she talked about her deep faith and said she’s loving life.
“I’m really standing on God’s shoulders right now, you guys,” Van Lith said. “He’s delivered me from so much, man, and so much pain and suffering and confusion. I just — it’s all glory to God, truly. I would be nothing without Him. In the darkest moments of my life, He never turned His face from me, and I just couldn’t be more grateful to experience his love in this moment. So, you know, all those people are wearing my jersey out there, but it’s for a greater purpose, and you know it’s God working, man. So that’s all I have to say.”
Win or lose, Van Lith will no doubt have more to say after the Horned Frogs take on Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 on Saturday, March 29.