The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Basketball to celebrate Clarissa Davis jersey retirement Sunday
03.07.2020 | Women's Basketball
The ceremony will begin at 11:14 a.m. CT at the Frank Erwin Center.
The University of Texas will celebrate the retirement of the No. 24 jersey of Clarissa Davis – effective with the completion of the 2019-20 women's basketball season – in a pre-game ceremony during Sunday's game against Oklahoma State at the Frank Erwin Center. The ceremony will begin at 11:14 a.m. CT.
Davis, now Davis-Wrightsil – will become the second women's basketball player at The University of Texas to have her jersey retired. The other is Kamie Ethridge's No. 33, announced and effective September 2019.
Sunday's game vs. Oklahoma State is set for an 11:30 a.m. CT tip at the Frank Erwin Center and the game will be televised by Longhorn Network.
A San Antonio, Texas, native, Davis starred for the Longhorns from 1985-86 to 1988-89. During Davis' four years on the Forty Acres, Texas compiled a record of 124-10 [.925], winning the 1986 National Championship, advancing to the 1987 NCAA Final Four and making two additional NCAA Elite Eight appearances. Davis was the 1986 NCAA Final Four's Most Valuable Player, totaling 56 points and 32 rebounds in the two-game span. The Longhorns also won the Southwest Conference Championship in each of her four years.
A two-time All-American for Texas, Davis was the recipient of the Naismith Trophy in 1987 and 1989, recognizing her as the National Player of the Year. In her senior season of 1989, she also claimed the Wade Trophy and the USBWA's National Player of the Year Award. Davis was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and was a member inaugural women's class of the UT Athletics Hall of Honor in 2000.
Davis is one of only three players in program history to eclipse the 2,000-point plateau and ranks third in program history with 2,008 career points. Davis, who played in 101 games, is the school's all-time career leader in scoring average at 19.9 points per game for her career. Her 8.7 rebounds per game rank fourth in school history and her career field-goal percentage of 57.5 is fifth all-time.
Davis boasts three of the top-seven scoring games in program history, including a career-high 45 points at Tennessee on Dec. 9, 1987 and a pair of 38-point scoring efforts. She holds school records with 13 career 30-plus-point games and 25 career 20-plus-point games.
Davis received recognition from the NCAA and Southwest Conference Team of the Decade for the 1980s and was the Most Valuable Player of the SWC team.
Davis helped USA Basketball earn gold medals at the 1986 World Championships and the 1987 Pan American Games. Following graduation, she starred on the bronze medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic team in Barcelona, averaging 13 points per game, while setting the team record for three-point shooting percentage. In 1994, she was a member of Team USA's gold-medalist Goodwill Games squad and bronze-medalist World Championship team.
Davis played in Europe and Asia from 1989-96. In 1996, she played in the American Basketball league before joining the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury in 1999. Davis served as the Director of Development for Women's Basketball with the San Antonio Spurs from 2000-02 and was the Chief Operating Officer of the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars from 2002-06. She was an assistant coach at her alma mater during the 2006-07 season and at Rutgers from 2008-09.
Davis earned a bachelor's degree in communications from UT in 1989. She resides in Austin.