Talaysia Cooper

Class:
Senior
Position:
G
Height:
6-0
Experience:
TR
Hometown:
Turbeville, S.C.
High School:
East Clarendon
Prev. School:
Tennessee

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• 2025-26 All-SEC Second Team
• 2025-26 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List
• 2025-26 Wooden Award Midseason Top 25
• 2025-26 Wooden Award Preseason Watch List
• TSWA Player of the Week (November 10, 2025)
• 2025-26 USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Preseason Watch List
• 2025-26 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List
• 2025-26 Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch List
• 2025-26 Preseason All-SEC First Team (Media & Coaches)
• 2024-25 Coaches & USA TODAY Sports Network All-SEC Second Team
• 2024-25 Coaches SEC All-Defensive Team
• 2024-25 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist
• 2024-25 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Midseason Watch List
• 2024-25 Wooden Award Late Midseason Watch List
• 2024-25 Meyers Drysdale Award Midseason Watch List
• TSWA Player of the Week (December 10, 2024)
• Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week (November 19, 2024)
• USBWA Player of the Week (November 19, 2024)
• SEC Player of the Week (November 19, 2024)

ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS

• 2025-26 SEC Academic Honor Roll
• 2022-23 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll

At Tennessee
Garnered several individual accolades in her two full seasons with Volunteers … Appeared in 63 games, making 52 starts, averaging 16.3 points in that span … Earned All-SEC Second Team nods in 2025-26 as Tennessee’s leading scorer, averaging 16.0 points per game, while also contributing a team-high 104 assists … Added 4.7 boards per game … Had 10 steals at Stanford, to tied Tennessee’s second-most in a single game … Scored 10 or more points in 54 contests … She had 19 games of at least 20 points during her tenure at Tennessee … Recorded seven double-doubles for the Volunteers … As a sophomore in 2024-25, recorded 105 steals, which is the sixth-best single-season mark by an individual in Tennessee history … Also led the Volunteers in scoring that season with 16.6 per game, as well as in steals (3.1) … Earned Coaches and USA TODAY Sports Network All-SEC Second Team, as well as the SEC Defensive Team according to league coaches … Added 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game that season … Had a career-best 33 points against Liberty that season … Became the 51st player in SEC history to record 1,000 career points exclusively with SEC teams.

At South Carolina
Appeared in 24 of 37 total games for the Gamecocks … Played in eight SEC contests, two games of the SEC Tournament and four NCAA Tournament outings … Averaged 2.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 8.4 minutes per contest and produced a positive assist-to-turnover ratio of 30 to 18 … Notched a then-career best 15 points along with five rebounds, two assists and a steal against Texas A&M … Had three games with at least five rebounds, including a season-best seven against Hampton … Dropped 14 points against Charleston Southern, making five of her eight field goal attempts.

High School
Ranked as high as the No. 18 overall player and No. 4 point guard in the 2022 class, accruing a five-star rating by espnW … Named a McDonald’s All-American in 2022 … The year prior, was named the South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year … Named the SCBCA 1A State Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022, also the SCBCA 2A State Player of the Year in 2019 … Surpassed over 3,000 career points for East Clarendon High School … As a senior, averaged 23.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

Personal
Born July 17, 2004 to Letessa Porter and Travis Cooper in Turbeville, South Carolina ... Is an only child.