Less than a year into her move to Austin, Texas women’s basketball freshman Aaliyah Crump is already fitting in.
Take the recent winter storm, for example. As the city braced for icy weather with cancelled plans and frantic runs to the grocery store, Crump wasn’t going to judge too harshly. Not even when her mother reported that the windchill back home in Minnesota had reached minus-50.
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“I don’t like the cold. I don’t like it no matter where it is, if it’s in Minnesota or if it’s here,” Crump said.
Texas Longhorns guard Aaliyah Crump (23) brings the ball down in the third quarter of the Longhorns’ game against the LSU Tigers at the Moody Center in Austin, Feb. 5, 2026. Texas won the game 77-64.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
Crump also is fitting in on the court for Texas. A top-five recruit in the 2025 recruiting cycle, she has missed much of her first season due to a foot injury that sidelined her for 15 games. But in the four games since she returned Jan. 18, she has contributed 54 points off the bench while being responsible for seven of the team’s 13 3-pointers.
NO. 4 TEXAS VS. NO. 16 KENTUCKY
When/where: 6:30 p.m. Monday at Moody Center.
TV/radio: SEC Network; 1300 AM.
MORE: Texas PG Rori Harmon has the records. Vic Schaefer wants her to get more recognition.
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Against Texas A&M, Crump scored 12 points in her first game in 60 days. She then knocked down three 3-pointers against Florida on Jan. 29. After playing a key role in UT’s 78-70 win over then-No. 10 Oklahoma on Feb. 1, she scored 16 points while shooting 7-for-10 from the field and grabbing five rebounds in last Thursday’s 77-64 takedown of No. 5 LSU.
“I think she is a good-sized perimeter player,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said.
“She’s got the ‘it,'” Texas’ Vic Schaefer said.
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Texas Longhorns guard Aaliyah Crump (23) shoots the ball during the game against Incarnate Word at the Moody Center on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Former top freshmen at Texas reflect on this year’s top freshman
Since Schaefer arrived in Austin ahead of the 2020-21 season, he has not shied away from playing freshmen. Most of those first-year players, though, have had reserve roles. Aaliyah Moore and Ashley Chevalier came off the bench on Texas’ Elite Eight teams, Amina Muhammad and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda both appeared in more than 30 games during the 2022-23 season and Jordan Lee, Bryanna Preston and Justice Carlton all factored into last year’s run to the Final Four.
Then there’s Rori Harmon and Madison Booker.
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Long before she became the Longhorns’ all-time leader in assists and steals, Harmon was tabbed by Schaefer to be UT’s starting point guard her freshman season. Harmon, in her second game, scored 21 points to help Texas upset Stanford, which was the NCAA’s defending champion in 2021. She went on to average 22 points and 4.3 assists per game while leading the Longhorns to the Big 12 Tournament title and three wins in the NCAA Tournament.
Two years later, Booker stated her arrival at Texas with a 20-point performance that complemented Harmon’s 27-point, 13-outburst in an 80-68 win over UConn in 2023. After Harmon suffered a season-ending knee injury later that season, Booker moved from the wing to the point guard position. With Booker running the show, Texas won another Big 12 tournament title and made its third Elite Eight appearance in four years. For her efforts, she was named an All-American and the Big 12’s player of the year.
So, what do Harmon and Booker think about Crump?
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“She’s going to be a big-time player,” Harmon said. “Unfortunately she’s missed a lot of the season, but for her to come back and do what she’s been doing in the last four games that she’s been back is just something that we’ve needed. I’m just so happy to see her grow as a person. She’s so relentless in practice, and she’s willing to learn everything, and she’s so coachable and she just controls her emotions so well. She’s a prolific shooter, and I need her to continue to have confidence.”
Said Booker: “I think one thing that stands out with me for Aaliyah is just her work ethic. I think that says a lot about your character, and how you want to be perceived and what kind of player you want to be here at Texas. I think she works very hard. She has a little ‘it’ factor with her.”
Texas Longhorns guard Sarah Graves (6) welcomes teammate Aaliyah Crump (23) to the court as the starting line up is announced ahead of the Longhorns game against the Richmond Spiders at the Moody Center in Austin, Nov. 7, 2025.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
Without the awards, can Aaliyah Crump stand out among SEC’s top freshmen?
Nine different players have claimed at least a share of the SEC’s freshman of the week award so far this season. Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez (six times), Vanderbilt guard Aubrey Galvan (three) and Tennessee guard Mia Pauldo (two) are the only freshmen to be honored at least twice. Crump has not yet been recognized by the SEC.
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Missing 15 games might cost Crump a chance to win the SEC freshman of the year award. However, she’ll get a chance to compete against the award’s frontrunners since Texas played Oklahoma earlier this month and will face Vanderbilt and Tennessee later this week.
During UT’s 78-70 win over Oklahoma on Feb. 1, 10 of Crump’s 12 points were scored as Texas seized control of the game in the second quarter. Chavez, meanwhile, scored 11 points on 3-of-13 shooting. Crump did not participate in the Longhorns’ postgame new conference, which left her teammates to answer whether she had been incentivized by a chance to go up against Chavez.
“She went up against OU,” Harmon retorted.
MORE: Texas signees Addison Bjorn, Brihanna Crittendon, Aaliah Spaight are McDonald’s All-Americans
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For her part, Crump seems more focused on improving on the court than individual accolades. Following the LSU win, she credited her teammates and coaches with assisting her as she returned from injury. Crump and No. 4 Texas (22-2, 7-2) will face No. 16 Kentucky (18-6, 5-5) at Moody Center on Monday.
“I feel like this is honestly the most confident I’ve been in my career as a basketball player, just because I have amazing people around me who really believe in me,” Crump said.